Ron Johnson

I have raised this in secure briefings with members of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and I have been told, 'OK, we are on that. We are looking into it.'

So God bless industry. I am glad you are moving forward.

Again, so what I am going to try and convince our Ranking Member is to join me in authorizing up to $100 million to quickly install these as a first step.

Some of these transformers are 2 years out in terms of lead time, correct?

I thought, Senator, that your job was to defend public schools; and I do not see anyone here from the public school.

It is not a lack of the money that equates to better education.

Senator Johnson. That compares to a cost per pupil in Wisconsin in general of about $11,000, Milwaukee is about $12,000, correct?

Well, let me give you some figures on that. In Milwaukee, it's about $12,000 per pupil. In Washington, DC, it's $29,000.

I guess you are basically confirming what my basic principle would be is competition actually works, it drives quality.

You used a word that put a smile on my face, 'volunteer.'

Thank God this does not happen here.

I am going to transition from you to Dr. Witte during this question.

But they fell into line.

We are going to try and get to the bottom of that.

But please support public school.

I am certainly well aware of that having worked to try and keep the Bleward system financially solvent.

Thank you, Mr. Komer. We also should thank Mr. Komer because he cut short a vacation in Maine with his family.

Senator Johnson. And, again, the cost to educate a child in your system is slightly under $9,000, you get a $7,200 voucher?

So the demand definitely outstrips the supply which, again, if I were judging the success of a program, I would say the demand outstripping the supply by that much is certainly evaluated.

Almost 35, 40 percent are waiting to get into the system.

No matter what your studies say, no matter, the controversy over does it do a better job, have better educational outcomes, I mean, this is a pretty strong indication that the parents and the kids, the customers, obviously see value in…

So bottom line, we already have a system in the State of Wisconsin to accommodate those disabilities, provide the funding to provide the services within the public system.

The precision medicine genomic mapping movement, specifically for cancer, what are your thoughts about the need for a long-term commitment of Federal funding for precision medicine programs?

What is going to drive innovation are the benefits and rewards of a free market system.

It is the road blocks that Federal Government policies create for those innovators for that free market capital system.