Bob Casey

This is precisely the sort of crisis which on both a moral and strategic basis calls for American leadership; if we decline to exercise such leadership, the consequences--for the Middle East and for our position there--may be grimmer still.

I know we have had, in this instance, some nontraditional donors, such as Gulf States.

The hearing will come to order.

I think it is very important that the governments of the countries around that are in the first line of protection of the international community against the Syrian crisis, do receive all the solidarity they deserve.

I would just urge us to coordinate our game plan better than we have in the past.

I commended the effort undertaken by neighboring countries to leave their borders open.

You mentioned, Senator Casey, the flour program, where U.S. flour is reaching 50 bakeries that are feeding 210,000 people in the northern governates of Aleppo.

You created al-Nusra by not helping us, and now you use their existence as an excuse not to help us.

I think that there is at least a measure of bipartisan support for that kind of action.

Each one is a human tragedy, each person affected by the violence. I cannot even begin to imagine the horror that these families have lived through.

When so many of the stakeholders in that region see the United States as not adequately providing its direction and leadership, there is a problem there.

I do believe that humanitarian aid--effective humanitarian aid--in this moment, is not only a moral obligation to the people that is in need, it is also a factor to help these move into the right direction.

Are you talking about 1 million refuges per country by the end of 2013?

We have, I think, some limited time to rectify this in order to get young people enrolled in a program which they should be.

This is going to lead to other questions about other departments.

I think there's a good bit of skepticism on this committee among Senators in both parties...

You didn't know that until 2012.

I want to thank everyone for being here, and I appreciate the work that's been done by a number of folks on both my staff and Senator Isakson's staff to make this hearing possible.

One of the things that is particularly disturbing about this is not simply the impact, but the fact that there didn't seem to be an expert who could make accurate budget forecasts or projections.

Tell me when you knew that there was a substantial problem which we know now is the 2011 $39 million shortfall.

I think taxpayers would have a better sense of what happened if you can expedite that.

I'm a big believer in the Job Corps program, a big supporter of the program, and I'm hopeful that we'll get some answers to some troubling questions.

So each of us, I think, has a special obligation, especially those of us who are elected or appointed officials, to focus on those dollars and what taxpayers get for those dollars.

So you didn't know in July 2011.

We questioned whether the Government received the best value for $17.1 million in contracts issued by seven individual centers.