Jim Jordan

You knew that was going to happen on August 2, 2011. If you maybe planned for it, maybe you would not have to release 8 level 1 felons on the street.

You cannot plan on hopes. You got to decide.

When did your Agency start planning for sequester?

Do you think maybe if you would have started planning sometime before this year--you had 20 months to get ready for it--do you think maybe we would not have to release 2,228 detainees, 629 who were criminals, 8 who were level 1 felons?

Okay. And then putting aside what Mr. Gowdy brought up, the fact that we released 10 Level 1 aggravated felons, your answer to we haven't seen many major disruptions was yes.

She said airports were seeing 150 to 200 percent lines as long as we would normally expect. Was she wrong or were you wrong in what you gave your answer to Mr. Connolly?

I think we could have a very productive session today, working in a very bipartisan manner, not in an alarmist manner, and eliminate some of these false claims and shed some light on where we can save money.

We have people who can speak to some of these claims here today, and that is part of the purpose of this hearing, is to identify some common sense ways that we can cut costs and improve efficiency in Government.

What we are arguing is that there are also consequences to continuing to spend more money than you have and piling on a debt that is now bigger than our entire economy.

Just to the same gentleman, while citrus greening may be a problem, is it not also true, or in your judgment, is a $16 trillion debt a problem as well...

The American people have a right to know why they continue to be misled by this Administration in an effort to score cheap political points.

First, Education Secretary Arne Duncan went on National television and claimed that teachers were literally getting pink slips.

Next, we had the President. I guess he didn't want to be outdone and wanted his Pinocchios as well because he claimed that janitors at the United States Capitol would receive a pay cut.

The Obama Administration has misled the American people with horror story after horror story about the sequester.

We need to trust our President. But the trust is eroding due to his false rhetoric about the sequester.

The reason we support reducing spending and sequestration is because we have a debt larger than our entire annual economy.

I am appalled the President has thrown the men and women who would take a bullet for him, the Secret Service, under the bus for canceling White House tours.

The only conclusion I can draw is the President wants to politicize the sequester and make the cuts as painful as possible.

The bottom line, is agencies should have planned better for sequester.

I support all of the use of both liquefied and compressed natural gas because, in fact, it is a clean fuel, a plentiful fuel and an inexpensive fuel.

Converting to using more natural gas, producing more oil as we are in North Dakota, all of this comes together to reduce our imports, increase our exports and make America more competitive.

Finding solutions to this problem is incumbent on the courts, businesses, the Patent and Trademark Office, and on this Congress.

I view it as a tremendous threat to our Fourth Amendment protections because it is the Government subsidizing privacy violations.

The only way that can happen is if rhetoric is also matched by law, if in fact law is enforced and overseen.

I believe that this hearing will help shine more light on how our tort system burdens the U.S. economy, reduces job creation, inhibits capital investment, and stifles innovation.