Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate that.

Actually, I used to use a 'secret shopper' kind of concept in the retail business, and it's valuable to find out what people are really doing.

as Senator Enzi mentioned, they were not all bad, and some provided some good practices.

What role do the incentive compensation safe harbors play in encouraging the behavior revealed in that GAO investigation?

I believe that understanding how each sector of higher education relates to the other is the best way for us to ensure that students are protected and that the taxpayers are getting the best return on their investment.

I'll begin with Mr. Hawkins.

I voted against the Higher Education Opportunity Act, the 2007 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, because I believe that it produces too many unnecessary and onerous regulations and didn't improve the Federal Government's…

I think they did a pretty good job with their photography.

I want to remind everyone that Congress has just committed to making an increased investment in Pell grants.

Thank you. And Mr. Chairman, I thank you for letting me go first so that I can make it to the White House.

as indicated in response to Senator Enzi's question #2, accrediting agencies for example require annual reporting

If we can sit here and honestly say that we do not think there is at least 10 percent waste in the Federal Government, then that is a completely preposterous statement.

the stimulus package was misdirected. It was a massive expansion in deficit and debt.

the Federal response in this area has been woeful, misdirected, and, unfortunately, has probably aggravated the problem.

It is the politicians that decide which groups to pay more.

Every small business person I talk to is just worried to death about their coming costs in healthcare.

Every family, every business, local government, State governments across America right now are cutting their budgets and they are basically wringing out the waste.

the financial regulatory bill... is forcing a contraction in credit across this country because it was misdirected.

the American people... are looking at our Government and saying it isn't part of the solution. It is the problem.

The biggest threat to long-term economic output is the debt, is it not?

I almost got tears in my eyes when I think back, one of the people that had a career academy we're talking about, they had one that was a building trade.

I would hope that in the course of the formulation of these two very important laws that there's recognition that there really can be more cooperation between the Department of Labor and the Department of Education.

I appreciate that. I do know that blame game, as we try to focus in on where the real problem is, it's always in somebody else's yard, one way, up or down.

So outside speakers help, then?

If they focus on a national, rigorous curriculum in reading, writing and mathematics. Help us with an assessment that we've never had before, that we can compare apples to apples.