I hope that the smooth sailing and passage that you've had through this hearing continues on the floor.

the extent to which the President can direct the exercise of statutory authority that is vested in someone else in the executive branch is one of the great questions of American constitutional law.

Thank you, Chairman, and thank you for holding this hearing.

to the extent that there are duties that are specifically given to an office by Congress, even if that office holder is an appointee of the President, it may very well be that there are authorities that belong to that office that the…

the point that I am trying to make is that, to the extent that there is some question about the authority that the President can exercise through his assistants and advisers, that is a limitation that pertains to the President himself.

One of our primary responsibilities here on the Senate Judiciary Committee... is to make sure the Federal judiciary has the tools and the resources it needs to perform its crucial role in our constitutional structure.

We all recognize the importance of the Federal judiciary in the proper functioning of our democracy and we all want to ensure that the courts have the resources they need to protect our liberties and administer justice.

Rather than continue to exist in a sort of fairyland in which a burden shifts to an empty chair and we all pretend to be satisfied with that set of procedures, we should maybe try to rethink how to do that in a more logical and sensible…

What is the difference between what is required to prove that somebody is an agent of a foreign power?

Thank you for your determined and passionate and very thoughtful advocacy in these areas.

It could be the butcher at the market, it could be somebody who knows them at work.

I'm correct that there has never once been an adverse party that showed up in a 215 hearing. Not once.

I am concerned as I think some of the other senators and witnesses have been about the question of the presumption that certain things are relevant.

And yet that remains a nominal requirement for the Lone Wolf authority, doesn't it?

The other question in my time remaining has to do with the Lone Wolf provision which as has been indicated, has never been used.

But he doesn't really have to be one?

I don't believe that those standards exist around the Nation.

Now, Rhode Island doesn't have a death penalty. We gave it up years ago after a murder back in 1850.

I'm just wondering what your observations are as prosecutors about the extent and the merits of additional procedural protections in death penalty cases.

How significant is it, in terms of your own investigative authorities and responsibilities as police officers, to not just have accurate scientific evidence, but timely access to it while the crime is fresh and the witnesses are around and…

All evidence at this hearing to the contrary.

do you feel that they were being cooperative and helpful on the other end of this?

As Ms. Bodington said, these are tough times in Rhode Island and a lot of families are struggling.

Democrats in Congress led by Senator Durbin of Illinois tried unsuccessfully to include in the TARP legislation a provision that could have kept millions of families in their homes at zero cost to taxpayers.

Thank you very much. Finally Mr. Rao.