Realize more fully that they are servants of heaven and stewards of your mysteries. May faithfulness be the litmus test by which they evaluate each action. May they never be careless about their spiritual and moral growth. As you make them your instruments for achieving lasting peace and justice in troublesome times. We pray in your sacred name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The presiding officer the clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington, d. C. , january 15, 2014. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable edward j. Markey, a senator from the commonwealth of massachusetts, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed patrick j. Leahy, presiden
A publicprivate ecosystem is built upon good security governance, secure identities and constant selfassessment of one of those. Whether we drive adoption through incentives or directors can we need to proceed net but i urge you, your colleagues and the ministers not to let 2014 expire without adoption of measures that will better protect our economy and our security posture. Thanks for your time this afternoon and for your attention to this important matter of cybersecurity. Thank you very, very much. Because of the unusual circumstances and with the permission of my distinguished ranking member, the first question from our cycle come from senator mccaskill. Thank you. I adore you. [laughter] i wanted it on the record. Both of you. I adore both of you. [inaudible] i believe that ultimately the market is more effective at controlling behavior than the government. So let me start with a question that i dont think has fully been answered. Mr. Mulligan or ms. Richey, or can any of you she
Get a deputy confirmed, hopefully soon, to take to heart what Jane Holl Lute used to be. Im sure Janet Napolitano who was secretary did as well. Without with that having been said let me ask you what you believe to be some of the Major Management challenges in the department. And what do you see your role as the secretary in adjusting addressing those management challenges . Ive read that gao report. I saw the 31 issues that gao identified. I was pleased to see that, according to gao, dhs is moving in the right direction with respect to these issues and resolving a number of them. In terms of management issues, vacancies, ensuring an efficient procurement process, getting an unqualified audited Financial Statement and dealing with some of the internal controls issues that lead to an unqualified opinion, i also think that with six different Accounting Systems we need to be sure we have what the financial people call this is intelligence so you can identify things like im obligated funds
To note that. Finally let me say on our i didnt touch on our other nutrition programs among the 15, we know unfortunately theyre needed more than ever now than. They didnt exist during the last depression. These programs are really important. They are important that they are responsive as well. Responsive not only in terms of individual need but whats going on in the American Economy. And i mention that very importantly as it pertains to the s. N. A. P. Program. S. N. A. P. Had a Significant Growth during this recession, extended recession. Both because the number of people who qualify, who were citizens or legal u. S. Residents under certain incomes grew by millions but also states took action, 40 something states in particular, made special efforts to really simplify access for eligible consumers in their respective states. It went up because of what was going on in the American Economy. Had it been block granted as some proposed more recently it would have been basically unable to r
Legislation. He said on november 19 of last year, im happy to tell you that i think that was a concern of his talking about another of our colleagues. We got that u. C. s last night unanimous consent. So we moved that pretty quickly, and i want to try to do those things. Where we have agreement, lets move it. Quote i want to try to do those things where we have agreement, lets move it. We have agreement, lets move i, closed quote. Thats all im asking for. Were not going to agree on everything immediately. But we can agree on important things right today, right this hour, right this minute. We do agree on 27 important communitybased clinics in 18 states around the country including two in louisiana, lafayette and lake charles, louisiana, that senator landrieu and i represent. So i want to try i to do those things where we have agreement, lets move it. And that can start right this minute in a productive, positive way with these 27 communitybased clinics around the country. So lets agree