Jack Reed

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, major efforts have been made to improve information-sharing.

The September 11 attacks illustrated a fundamental failure by our Government to share information effectively in order to detect and prevent the attack by 'connecting the dots.'

We need to move away from supplementals, I think the Secretary has said that, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has said that--I certainly agree.

It's an honor to be here today. I'm particularly pleased with the appointments that the President-elect has made, beginning with Secretary Gates.

I don't think anyone knows more about the intricacies of the budget and the institutional culture of the Pentagon than Bill Lynn.

He is superbly prepared for this job, and someone that I admire immensely.

It is a great privilege for me to be here today to introduce Scott Gould to this Committee as President Obama's nominee for Deputy Secretary of the Veterans Administration.

At the higher education level, we have and I have been particularly active in supporting the LEAP program.

I absolutely agree with you, that that is probably the key, the key point of leverage in any education system.

I would hope you would be able to tell us you are going to put your shoulder behind the law and money behind it to make these provisions in title II very effective and real in the process.

I think the President has made a very wise choice. Your experience and your commitment is obvious, and I think you will make a real difference in the Department of Education.

I was pleased to co-sponsor with the President-elect, the School Improvement Through Teacher Quality Act.

My point is that all of the efforts to make sure that FHA is running its programs in the most effective possible manner would be directed at ensuring that there continues to be a stable, open, fair, reliable mortgage system in the United…

I point out in my State of Connecticut, the average two-bedroom apartment, you have got to make $21 an hour to afford it.

If confirmed, you will, at times, be their only voice in housing policy discussions that occur within the Obama Administration.

I hope that as a member of the President's Economic Team, you will make stabilizing the housing market one of your chief objectives.

It is not just affordable housing, it is safe and affordable housing.

I want to thank Senator Shelby and the members of the Committee, because when we passed the housing bill last summer...

I would like to arrange for the members of this Committee or their staffs to meet with HUD.

According to the latest US Conference of Mayors Report on Homelessness, homelessness has gotten worse nationwide.

I think this was a conscious decision of the Bush administration, of Secretary Preston, without the mission to FHA and then Fannie and Freddie to go out there, the mortgage market in the United States would be moribund and we would be in a…

I think we had over 30 of them over the last 2 years, plus some efforts we made in this area.

I would like to thank Chairman Dodd and Ranking Member Shelby for scheduling this nomination hearing so quickly, an important part of our constitutional process.

I am just wondering, specifically with respect to these types of programs, but more generally, how are we going to support our public housing programs with real resources?

I would hope that you would be able to alert this Committee very quickly as to what you consider to be the needs, the technical needs, so that, in fact, we can avoid fraud.