finding an oversight responsibilities and i'll note that i am generally disappointed that we have not and apparently will not review in this committee the trillion dollar health care expansion currently running through the house let me turn to today's hearing and that is the stimulus employees could clearly if you look at this chart that hasn't happened the unemployment rate is already at nine point five percent a twenty five year high nearly all economists rising further to ten percent by late this year since the stimulus was enacted nearly two million jobs have been lost the administration continues to that we will see results soon and that we need to give the stimulus more time to work but most experts are predicting a so called jobless recovery and at least one member of the federal reserve's policymaking committee believes that the unemployment rate will linger at ten point five percent through next year but while the benefits of the stimulus have turned out to be meager and difficult to quantify its costs have been large and crystal clear it will add one trillion to our debt it represents merely the first component of a spending fueled budget a budget that will triple the national debt over the next decade and while the administration continues to commitment to create jobs it is formulating policies that will have the opposite effect in my opinion their cap and trade plan will dramatically raise the cost of operating a business and push jobs overseas and their health care plan  with new mandates and taxes as they struggle to get out of this great recession economic growth and jobs will suffer as a result of these policies small businesses create sixty to eighty percent of the new jobs in america but the house health care plan will result in most small businesses seeing their tax rate increase from thirty five to forty five percent over fifty percent if you include state level taxes in my home state of wisconsin the top tax rate of small businesses which is where most of our jobs come from will be fifty four point two seven percent higher than france and germany on wednesday the majority leader hoyer a man for whom i have great respect said the following on the house floor quote it is the private sector that drives our economy it is the private sector that will give us wealth and that creates jobs not the government but the government can create policies with in which we would see in which the private sector and particularly venture capitalists can have the confidence that we are managing our speak on a subject that is very important to this nation and to all of you and all the members of the congress and the particular honor to be here with my colleagues and friends secretary of agriculture tom vilsack and secretary you about consultation ray la hood when i was sworn in as president obama's secretary of interior just over six months ago we were in the throes of a crisis which is the worst economic crisis that we have seen since the great depression we were losing seven hundred thousand jobs a month bank lending was frozen and we were at the risk of falling off an economic cliff not seen for over one hundred years in america the economic crisis president obama and this congress inherited was years in the making years of lax oversight years of responsible behavior at the highest level here's a problem that unfortunately cannot be solved overnight let there be no doubt america's recovery will take time but make no mistake we have come a long ways in the six months since january our economy is stabilizing help is reaching those hardest hit by this recession confidence is returning and america has begun to rebuild the recovery act is working we see it working through the investments that the department of the interior is making through the recovery act congress and trust that the department of interior with the responsibility of investing three billion dollars to create jobs restoring america's national parks and treasured landscapes building clean drinking water infrastructure for rural communities fixing and upgrading aging schools in indian country and taking on other critically important projects where the nation we are making these investments with lead on the eighteen month timeline established by congress we will we are also making these investments responsibly we want to make sure that we get it right as you would want us to do we want to ensure the taxpayer dollars are not going to waste every project must be worth worthy of the public's expenditure every contract must be competed in a fair and open manner and everything we do must be transparent and open to public scrutiny we are meeting these goals and i am proud of the results that we have seen so far since congress passed the recovery act interior and its agencies have identified three thousand three hundred  eighty two projects which meet the high standards that we have set that's three thousand three hundred eighty two projects which we are overseeing ninety percent of the three billion dollars we are investing is helping us meet along the first maintenance needs that have built up in recent years on roads rails facilities water infrastructure and habitat that we manage the national park system alone has over eight billion eight billion dollars in deferred maintenance priorities and there are more deferred maintenance projects on the five hundred million acres or twenty percent of nations landmass that we manage on behalf of the american people but we are making progress since we released our final list the recovery act projects in late april interior has obligated three hundred five million dollars in recovery act funding which we estimate has already created more than three thousand jobs four hundred projects are already underway by the end of october we will have obligated nearly one point one billion dollars and the next six months we expect to obligate another one billion dollars the pace is consistent with construction based nature of the majority of your projects just as you can build a new house overnight some of our projects will take time to complete they will employ people at every step of the way surveyors architects contractors carpenters plumbers electricians not to mention all those who build and sell the materials that are going into these projects companies that sell solar panels worm farms that design stream gauges all of these people and businesses will have an opportunity to go to work we are seeing the benefits of the interiors recovery act investments in communities all across the country and it's companies like b l m contracting in bozeman montana as you will see in this picture in a normal summer construction season b l m employees twenty five to thirty people but this year there was no work for the employees at b l m they bid on twenty jobs last winter that's how bad it was twenty jobs and got not gotten on since and they have want to recovery act bids including a seven one point eight million dollars road project in theodore roosevelt national park in north dakota  lewis this is a person of america that is america says and says the following that they that the recovery act made the difference for the company this year they've hired workers they're getting moving again it's companies like a t c architects in salt lake city jill jones is the owner of this company she says she would have lost over a third of her staff without the recovery act working for her arm and doing for the national park service and other federal agencies the work that she is doing thanks to the recovery act projects they are holding strong bills employees know their jobs are secure she says the recovery act has changed the confidence level but confidence level of the twenty two people working here jill says and i believe it has a ripple effect that will move across the country as more and more of these recovery act projects hit the ground and it's people like kelly handsome he is a carpenter for northern management services boise idaho and one of thirty four tradesmen and laborers who are working on the renovation for the san francisco bay national wildlife refuge headquarters he says i come from idaho where the little towns are getting hurt first a lot of people are used to work or have lost everything here in california they have never seen it so bad the stimulus money has cut through the red tape and put us to work i would be out of a job without it we're hearing from a lot of small businesses like these a large percentage of interiors obligated bonds have been awarded to small and disadvantaged businesses and we'll hear more stories in the coming months in the next eight months we will begin an additional one point eight billion dollars of work that will create or hundred thousand more jobs in this country and the recovery act we will see a school fix in standing rock north dakota and a school rise on the indian lands and generally arizona we will see four hundred fifty thousand people in rural communities in south dakota get clean drinking water from three new water treatment facilities we will see drought stricken communities in california get some help and we will make down payments on the long term water infrastructure needs in california and around the country and we will see more and more young people get to work in the outdoors the fish and wildlife services northeast region has doubled the size of a two conservation corps among our young people unemployment is the highest we have brought young people to work on many of these public projects much in the same way as franklin delano roosevelt did in the one thousand thirty's with the civilian conservation corps as the chairman and ranking member ryan members of the committee i look forward to continuing to work closely with you to ensure that we are implementing the recovery act as swiftly as openly and as responsibly as the american people deserve the office of inspector general at interior is also a key partner with us where they're helping us implement the recovery act with a very robust set of internal controls to ensure adequate oversight and management of these once we take our responsibility seriously under the law very seriously and we can report today that the recovery act is working it is helping stabilize our economy it is putting chairman thank you to you and to the ranking member and members of this committee for the opportunity to be here today and i want to thank secretary salazar and secretary la hood for their service and i'm proud to be with them this morning appreciate the opportunity to report to you on the united states department of agriculture's work on the recovery act and believe too that our report will reflect that the recovery act is working it is transitioning america from bad times to better times and getting the work accomplished around the nation that americans want investments we are making are not only creating economic stability but also funding the technology and infrastructure that will lay the groundwork for future economic growth when president obama took office we were indeed as you have indicated german facing the worst economic crisis in modern times khani was in fact losing seven hundred thousand jobs per month and shrinking at a rate of six point three foreclosures were record levels and housing investment fallen by more than forty percent major financial institutions were failing and credit was indeed clearly doing nothing in this economic crisis was not an option less than eight decades ago we experienced the dramatic negative implications for inaction we have seen the people hit hardest are ordinary americans who struggle to put food on the table clothe their children and maintain housing we also know that every day we fail to act long term implications and the road toward financial stability is pushed further away if not years into the future thankfully many of the folks who lived through the great depression are still among us it would have been an affront to their experiences if we didn't do better this time and take action to save our children from some of the suffering and hardship they've endured in their formative years unraveling economy did offer a chance for us to be both responsive and proactive with the passage of the recovery act fortunately we will never know the full scope and duration of the pain america would have endured had the nation not been mobilized into action in less than one hundred fifty days the recovery act is work to stabilize economic conditions and help those harmed by the economic crisis the problems that lead the nation to the brink were created over several years and cannot be instantly solved we have created the stability needed to get us there and are making strides in helping those negatively affected by the downturn from the perspective of u s d a we are reaching out to every american every day to improve lives and prepare for future economic prosperity in less than one hundred fifty days u s d a has announced the availability of twenty seven point four billion dollars of the twenty eight billion of funds provided to the recovery act we have provided more than forty five thousand six hundred thirty six loans to americans who are deeply impacted by the economic crisis and begun implementation of more than a thousand recovery act projects u s d a has provided additional resources through our nutrition assistance program over thirty three million americans receive a thirteen point six percent increase in benefits under the supplemental nutrition assistance program or snap for most families of four this is an extra eighty dollars per month at the grocery store it in fact creates eight hundred million dollars a month and direct stimulus to the economy research suggests that every dollar in spending from snap results in a dollar eighty four in total economic activity and further our data indicates that ninety seven percent of funding received through this program is spent within thirty days of receipt some of the other accomplishments to date u s d a include forty three thousand housing loans two thousand six hundred thirty six direct operating on to farmers with a thousand and eighty one of those going to beginning farmers and six hundred of those going to socially disadvantaged farmers three hundred twenty three water and waste projects six hundred community facility projects more than one hundred watershed projects two hundred eighty eight floodplain easement projects one hundred sixty nine wildfire management of wild land fire management projects and three hundred forty three capital improvement projects in our forest service we are particularly enthusiastic about the rural broadband funding provided in the recovery act which provides two point five billion dollars to provide broadband services to under served and unserved communities to position them for the next generation of technology and economic growth jamming considering the state economy at the close of two thousand and eight we are in a remarkable decision at present including loans and guaranteed loans we have in fact announced a forty eight billion dollars of the fifty two billion dollars in program level funding or more than ninety two percent of the program program level funding provided to us in the statue government wide about twenty eight percent of the funds have been put to work in about twenty four percent of the days of the recovery act we are on track but it is important for us to stay focused on the mission at hand and to continue our commitment it is going to take time the law was designed for two years of action and it is critically important we see the plan through it's going to take courage to hold our ground and remain committed to the program of recovery for the american people is up to this challenge i'm proud to represent the men and women of our department here this morning and i'll be happy to respond to questions from members of the committee after secretary la hood is given his common good thank you mr chairman i'm delighted to be here with my two colleagues from the cabinet and to be back at the budget committee of which i was a member for one term and i thank you for the opportunity to discuss the u s progress in implementing the american recovery and reinvestment act of nine the recovery act is an extraordinary response to a crisis unlike any sense the great depression this landmark legislation is the most sweeping complex and ambitious domestic aid package we haven't acted in generations that reflects an unprecedented effort to jumpstart our economy create or save millions of jobs and put a downpayment on addressing long neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the twenty first century since this legislation was enacted the department of transportation has been working hard to ensure that the recovery act is implemented quickly wisely and with unprecedented transparency and accountability to finance transportation projects throughout america today i want to share with you our accomplishments and our plans for the future today the department has made nearly half of its funds twenty two billion dollars available to states so they can greenlight priority projects to rebuild and modernized roads bridges transit systems airports and seaports we have approved over six thousand six hundred projects for highways and other transportation projects nationwide of those more than three thousand two hundred roads transit and airport improvement projects are underway right now within d o t our motor lady are doing an outstanding job of making recovery funds available as quickly as possible so far the federal aviation administration has allocated virtually all of its stimulus funds more than one billion dollars to airports all over the country the federal highway administration is obligated nearly two thirds of the twenty seven point five billion dollars appropriated by congress more than one billion dollars in new amtrak projects have been approved and for public transit an unprecedented three point two billion dollars in grants have already been made awarded have been awarded and another five billion is in the pipeline in the coming months we will begin awarding grants from our eight billion dollar fund to develop new high speed passenger rail corridors which has generated a great deal of interest and excitement around the country and our discretionary one point five billion dollars tiger grant program will invest in priorities which are multilingual projects to make sure more competitive and enhanced livability and sustainability thanks to the excellent staff working our productive relationships with state officials every state met the congressional deadline to obligate fifty percent of the highway formula funds allocated to them within the first one hundred twenty days which is what asked us to do transit agencies around the country are on track to meet a september one deadline for the same milestone with fifty percent of the formula funds obligated in speaking to governors mayors state transportation officials and private contractors all over the country i have been since i was sworn in on january twenty seventh to twenty four states in forty one cities and i have found there is widespread agreement that with t these well timed federal investments in infrastructure and state services our economy would probably be in much worse shape while the recovery act cannot make up for all the jobs our economy has yet every single job these investments help to protect or create count as a victory over five thousand jobs have already been supported through spending on transportation projects and we estimate that over five hundred thousand jobs will eventually be supported once the full effect of the recovery act is felt in the transportation industry five hundred thousand i also want to highlight our success in overseeing the complex this complex program  keeping our promise to america to meet the highest standards for transparency and accountability and i'm happy to report that in all fifty states and territories not a single case of serious abuse of funds has been identified that's a remarkable achievement for a fast moving program of this scope and i'm very proud to say no earmarks no sweetheart deals no boondoggles share of the credit goes to our d o t management team for the recovery act known as the tiger team does help to keep on our implementation on track keep our funds flowing and create a system for meeting all congressional requirements in addition we have completed three phases of risk management plan for all recovery act programs and we will continue to update our plan to ensure that all dollars are spent effectively as part of this plan we have developed a new risk assessment tool that has been adopted by the office of management and budget for government government  provides a strong foundation for managing our internal control process and our accountability executive board continues to work closely with the office of inspector general and the government accounting office to maintain open lines of communication with our auditors so we may identify and address any concerns as early as possible i am confident that years from now when we look back on the american recovery and reinvestment act we will recognize that the investments we made an infrastructure energy conservation education and other vital need mark a turning point in our economy the american people have said loud and clear they want to rebuild our crumbling roads and bridges build clean and green public transportation systems to help ease traffic congestion we're putting americans to work doing just that i look forward to any questions that any of you may have thank you m that i and my colleagues had there are already people who are working who would otherwise not be working if the congress had not taken the action that it took and the president's leadership has not resulted in in a stimulus package so i think the effects are already being seen on the ground secondly this is a program that was supposed to work over time it was not supposed to be a magic wand that from one day to another would take the economy out of the deep which had gotten into and so the congress rightfully set forth a longer term program over eighteen months to get the money out and so you'll see jobs created during that time period but also into the future in our process of the department of interior to recognize  contract that we are letting out will have people employed now and into the future but also there is a very positive economic impact of these investments because they will create jobs long term the kinds of projects that we are saying that thirty three million americans are today receiving the benefits of increased snap payments in food assistance payments as i indicated in my testimony a family of four on average will get about eighty dollars more to be able to spend in a grocery processed more product old in order to be able to process the additional food being purchased so thirty three million americans are getting benefits right now today and have been for the last several months i would also say that if you spend any time at all in food banks as i have you will see that the additional emergency food assistance that the recovery act provided is really helping a lot of families have nutritious meals particularly for the america's children we have unfortunately still today in this country six hundred thousand of our children who are hungry the food banks make a big difference in the lives of those youngsters third i would say that when you are looking at as i've indicated several hundred community facility projects these projects are for the most part construction projects that are putting people to work in the chances are very good that these are local contractors they are expanding libraries they are building daycare centers they're working on expanding health care facilities in rural communities at the same time those activities are taking place several thousand people are already working today on the floor for service projects and roughly thirty seven hundred folks are employed because of the watershed work that we're doing in the water treatment plants that we're building in those communities and there are roughly forty states that have been impacted by the benefits in those forty states when people turn on the tap in many of these communities are going to have clean drinking water so while there will be time for additional jobs being created as a result of our investments i think it's important to see this recovery act in three components first allowing people to transition from tough times that's why you extend unemployment benefits that's why you provide tax relief ninety five percent of working families that's why you increase snap benefits at the same time we're doing the work that americans want done they want their roads improved they want bridges they want dams to hold the water  they want to improve their communities rural areas that is taking place it will continue to take the next fifteen months and at the same time americans understand that we owe it to our children and grandchildren to build the foundation for a twenty first century economy which is why high speed rail the broadband initiative the smart grid investments will be will build a much stronger long term economy for this country so it will take some time for folks to see unemployment rates drop but the fact that the and i'll tell you what the reality is that the money is much of this money is out the door and as i said i've been to twenty four states in forty one cities around the country and everywhere i go  i orange cones all over america thousands of people working and i talk to these people all of these people that i talk to without exception were on unemployment in january and february and march and they're working today they're building roads or building bridges they're building runways every airport that i've flown into has taken advantage of the billion dollars that is now out the door and people are resurfacing runways servicing roads part of the us is that we said we wanted projects that were ready to go in order to have the state spend the money the legislature had to in some instances legislators had to appropriate the money for the project and some legislators have taken their time doing that other legislators had to pass capital budgets in the instance of illinois which the governor just signed which is the match money for some projects under there was no match under this but whatever delays were caused because were caused by the fact that legislators in some states want to have their say on how our own money was going to be spent but there are a lot of projects going on in  america and there's a lot of money out the door over twenty billion dollars is out the door and almost seven thousand projects are funded and many of them are under way i just met with some folks from the michigan delegation where but i believe we've made a difference i believe look around and i say this to every member and you go to these projects talk to people that are working what they'll tell you they were on an unemployment roll in january and february and now they can make their house payment make their car payment put food on the table for their families that could not have happened without and i thank congress for the courage to pass this kind of opportunity for america  we all want to get this right this is the worst we've seen in most of our lifetimes so getting the stimulus and getting the recovery right really matters and that's why some of us are concerned that we're not applying the right medicine at the right time to the economy to get jobs growing that's why we're concerned about the forecast of many economists have a jobless recovery and that's why we're also very concerned that even though the stimulus is starting to possibly maybe kick in right around the corner at the end of next year massive tax increases already coming into law tax increases on investment capital tax increases on workers tax increases on small businesses and now we have a proposal that we may be voting on next week that's going to put even more tax increases on small businesses bringing their tax rate their top tax rate up above fifty percent and so we think that the fiscal policy coming out of congress candidly is the wrong fiscal policy a week ago i went over to the bureau of public debt and i did this and we spent about five minutes watching smart employees at the treasury department in a room with a bunch of screen t v s sipping coffee borrowing forty billion dollars in about four minutes and we're doing this every day at the treasury department and we're being told by economists by bond traders there's going to come a day where we can't keep borrowing all this money there are going to come a day where we're not going to have a feel a bond sale where they're going to come a day where our finance years forty eight percent of whom are foreign governments namely china and japan are going to do it and so doing this and all this borrowed money has its limitations and so that's just a real concern that we have on this side of the aisle given that we were led to believe that this would cap our employment at eight percent now we're at nine point five going to ten you know we're worried that this isn't working so i just have a quick question for each of the three of  you one of the areas where we think we can get shovel ready projects where we think we can get good jobs and one of the concerns we have is working with the federal reserve and what it's doing is we're fueling another commodity bubble that means higher oil and gas prices around the corner just like we had a year ago which will dampen economic activity we've got trillions of cubic feet of natural gas billions of barrels of oil on our own country on our own grounds most of which are federal lands will the administration whether it's the inner mountain region gas in oil outer continental shelf or alaska will the administration this year lift the moratorium on this  drilling and move toward increasing the leasing so we can drill for oil and gas in our own country create all those jobs and try and reduce not only our dependency on foreign oil but keep prices low thank you very much let me first say on your comment respect to the debt issue the fact the matter is that this is a challenge which was inherited by president obama and this congress absolutely you were here at the time triples that debt in the next ten years and i i will just say to all of you here that i think it is an opportunity for this nation to come together and address the fiscal reality that we have to face because it's been ignored for far too long and as you heard from the president as he was in ohio yesterday and other places is walk us on making sure that we have accountability that accountability and that we address the fiscal challenges including the huge deficits that have been built up and so it's something that is very much on on the mind of the president and on the mind of the administration with respect to your question on energy we are working and have been working hard on a comprehensive energy plan we don't believe there is a one way highway to energy independence in america i think that one way highway has proven to be a wrong highway and consequence of that is it's made america wonderful to the dangers of what we're dependence on foreign oil to the dangers of  pollution to our to our children and has threatened the economy of our country because of the fact that we export so many dollars to bring in oil from places like the middle east and other places so what we have been doing is working as a team people like  a whole host of us on in the government to develop the president's vision for a comprehensive energy plan and you will see in that congressman ryan that there have been production compliments of what we are doing we continue to lease the vast swaths of the one point five million acres of land on b l lamp oil and gas production held leases in the gulf of mexico for over a million acres have been leased and we continue to continue to look at opportunities for development so we'll have a comprehensive plan that includes our conventional energy resources but also at the same time charge a new beginning with renewable energy that really addresses the new energy here that ultimately will address these long term systemic tell and i want to time real quick again on the remaining exist under existing moratorium those areas where the moratorium is lifted and we will have under the plan that we have in place we have provided until september twentieth for public comment on places that are appropriate for drilling and exploration and those that are not so we are working very hard with the treasury department to try to make sure that we first and foremost ensure that the payments are to be received by those who are entitled to them as you probably know that there were reports anecdotal reports of people who were not farmers receiving payments were working with the i r s and we hope to be able to ensure verify that people are receiving payments are in fact entitle to them and we think there will we are in the process of taking a look at a number of other ways in which there begin that process with a hundred million dollar challenge i can tell you that just in our department alone we can meet about a third of that challenge in just sixty days in terms of resources that we are saving and resources that we're not spending as farmers rely on and depend on and clearly we have seen a substantial need for this this year you mentioned your state of wisconsin i was in wisconsin recently and as you well know there is a serious problem with farmers in the state and we've been actually been another twenty billion we have two seasons in wisconsin winter and road construction timing of these really actually matters so what is the administration's proposal to fix this problem what's the timing in your mind and do you support general on financing of the highway program well we've put forth a proposal to the leadership to extend the current highway bill for eighteen months which we believe would cause twenty billion dollars and we have told congress that we would find the money and pay for it so we're not for the idea of just taking money from the general fund and l it over into the highway trust fund we think we should pay for it the senate has passed that extension there's three committees of jurisdiction in the senate and all three of those committees of pass that we're looking out of the house to do the same thing we think the idea that congress could pass a very comprehensive robust transportation bill by the time this one expires is just not possible you all know it's not possible to do it by september thirtieth so rather than you know doing these three months or six months or whatever extensions and just kind of you know leading people along here that we're going to get somewhere we think that an eighteen month extension gives us the chance to work with all of mechanisms for using the highway trust fund our idea which we think is a good one give us an eighteen month extension we'll find the twenty billion dollars to plug it we're not going to transfer money from one fund another to do it would have gotten well i think they can expect to to hopefully get what they need to basically transition to better times so that they can stay in business our goal with these disaster programs is to  keep people in business not to force them out i might also add that if to the extent that those farmers may have direct operating with the farm service administration we have asked our farm service administrators throughout the country deferred an effort to try to make sure that we are providing as much assistance and help as we possibly can and then finally we are continuing to encourage our institutional purchase of commodities to continue looking at areas where there are problems  drought that's been occurring here where we've lost forty thousand jobs this is an area the size of the state of rhode island that's out of production either been abandoned or followed the unemployment in this area is close to twenty percent enclaves as high as forty percent or even higher mr salazar you visited this area on april fifteenth to tour the economic devastation and on your visit you announced two hundred sixty million dollars in stimulus i'll quote from your press release to mitigate the effects of the devastating drought that california is currently experiencing unquote we've talked about this before but there's not a drought in california we've had ninety five percent of average rainfall what we have is a manmade government imposed drought because of the endangered species act as you're well aware but you did take some action and you provided recovery act funding and i like to draw your attention to the to the next slide as you can see on the monitor the x's mark where the stimulus funds went to and you can see that those x s are nowhere close to where the forty thousand jobs have been  lost after this was sprinkled over northern california for environmental purposes the crisis got worse in the san joaquin valley and it just returned june twenty eighth to hold a town hall with the victims of this manmade catastrophe i'd like to show you the the next slide you issued another one hundred thirty million dollars in stimulus funds and according to your testimony today the funds were for water reuse projects with the goal to help alleviate some of the devastation in the region you can see that this where the x s are that we still have no stimulus money in full disclosure your press release also included twenty million small water infrastructure projects and forty million in drought relief they are not reflected on this map because we don't know where the money has went to testimony you said quote of the next eighteen months we will begin approximately one point eight billion dollars it doesn't take a dime so i ask one question of you simply you know the situation with a biological opinion song when asked a very specific question that is do you plan at this time to conduct a rican sold on the delta smelt biological opinion that will put folks back to work congressman first let me say i appreciate your passion and your desire to address this issue which is causing there really are two things that we have to do we have to take some short term action including dealing with some of the projects that you and others here have suggested and we're trying to move those forward as expeditiously as we can and secondly we have to look at the long term issue in california relative to water supply we have a system which was built for about eighteen million people and actually california now has over thirty million people and we have the kind of challenges there that really requires us to take a systemic view of the water supply and the other demands participating in the food stamp program climb in april this year thirty four million people were on food stamps that includes one in four children in the united states twenty percent over last year and i would think that millions more children are eligible for free or reduced school meals but we haven't seen a rapid growth and in those programs children on food stamps automatically qualify for reduced or free school meals i make sure that all eligible children are enrolled and since we expect unemployment to continue to rise how is the u s d a working with states and with schools every month in an ongoing way to to make sure that we reach new children with this benefit and i question because my two sisters are schoolteachers sometimes kids come to school and they don't can't learn without with a hungry stomach and  you that one of the most important recent changes we've made in the school nutrition programs is to have a direct certification process as families apply for qualify for  ultimately qualify their children for free and reduced lunch we're making sure that that word gets out and that school districts do a good job of providing information on the direct certification program we are mandating or requiring schools assistance programs we are also issuing this february we should guidance to schools to develop strategies including a simple simplifying the process for allowing families to sign up  every tool technology tool available our web site promotes this we are developing products and programs for schools online that make it easy for them to and hunger in the coalition that you co chair you've done an extraordinary job and highlighting it every day that that you're here and i know of your deep interest in that and because i served with you on that  coalition so thank you for continuing your leadership and being very vigilant about it and our department people think that i have a lot of power but most everything that gets decided has  fourteen flagpoles before it can be decided i like the idea of the commuter benefit equity program because it gets people out of cars it certainly works in cities like washington d c and other cities i'm not going to say definitively you know that you know i look at if it was up to me you know it's a good program and we're going to we're going to do all we can to work with you and others in the congress to to promote it as a as a program that really goes to everything we talk about in terms of livability and creating opportunities for people other than just an automobile appreciate recess just a couple questions actually there were articles as i'm sure you're aware in the washington post kyl who called president obama's economic plan in effective and following that apparently several letters were written from the administration to a state governor and one parent we came from you and in it far as i know you can correct me if i'm wrong on this says to the governor if you prefer to forfeit the money we're making available to your state please let us know is that correct and why would you pick his one state to send that letter to it is correct that i did the letter to the governor the money from our economic recovery portion is going to the states not going through congress it goes to the why did you pick his state and why when you send that to all the states saying that one senator doesn't want to spend so we're going to ask all the senators was this done because you were trying to make some political hay out of the situation why we just pick one state because senator kyl who's a friend of mine was on national television on a sunday talk show saying that he thought that the money didn't need to be spent if they couldn't spend the money then maybe we should send the money back to washington i just want to double check with the person who was in charge of the money or not or senator kyl senator kyl is not in charge of the money congressman the governor is and i want to be sure that the governor was not in the same line of thinking as a senator kyl and the reason i did it was when i asked a question let me finish i'm going to answer your question it's my time it's your time do you want me to answer your question or not i will ask the questions and i'll ask look for your answer i haven't answered the one yet the why did he say that he did not want the money going to his state or did that's exactly if you go back and look at the transcript of that program what he said was is that we should send this money back it's not being spent and i want to check with the person who's responsible for spending the money the governor that's why i sent the letter and so he only wanted it from his state and not from any other state he was he was talking about arizona and when he was saying that the money is being used and effectively he's not talking about the entire regardless of whether he's talking about his state all the states is that appropriate for a cabinet secretary to contact the governor of that state to request whether the money should come back could you see if you were sitting on the other side if you were still say wearing your hat of the congressman or senator that you could see that as a veiled threat from the administration would you have considered that if you were still a member of congress not at you wouldn't think that not at all should i have any concerns that i'm going to raise that that i would get a letter sent to governor corps line of new jersey saying well the congressman voted against the stimulus and so therefore we're wondering whether you want to see the money  congressman the letter was not sent because of anybody's vote it was sent because of a statement that was made on national television about maybe we should send the money back and i want to check with  official in the state that has responsibility it had nothing to do with anybody's vote by the way and by the way i have worked very closely with governor corps mine and as a result your state congressman has received any norm millions of dollars for projects that are putting people to work who are working today that were on unemployment in january or february your governor's been a real leader in this by the way if i make a statement that there is legislation out there right now that suggest that the rest of the money has not already been spent should vote will have up but you do pay some by public statements apparently though i wanted to check to make sure arizona wanted to spend the money and by the way the next day we look at it of over twenty billion dollars where there are twenty million dollars for the transit program  anyone else in the ministration or outside the ministration encourage you to write that letter i don't need any encouragement to write letters to governors congressman did anyone inside or outside administration to contact you or to encourage you to write i don't need any encouragement from anybody to write letters ministration encourage you to write that letter i don't need any encouragement to answer the question whether you need the encouragement or not i don't need any encouragement mr chairman i'm with the witness please answer the question did anyone inside or outside administration encourage you to write that letter whether you need encourage men or not that anyone encourage you to write that letter that anyway talk to you about writing that letter it was all entirely your decision congressman that but unfortunately one side effect of that is that the administrative burden required to get recovery funds out quickly is very high on local communities and in fact i have communities don't even have grant riders  to so i will ask a question of actually one of those is and i think referred to this and that is that these jobs are not only jobs for the period but they provide  economic benefit and my question to both of you is is there any way we could have spent the portion of the stimulus money in a way that would not only create jobs or any other way that would have more effectively created jobs and provide a comic benefit for the country look at i don't know of another way i think when you look at what the president was talking about during the campaign i mean he continued to talk about the idea of the quickest way to get people to work is to rebuild the infrastructure in america and it's no secret around here or anywhere in america that a lot of our infrastructure had been ignored for a long time there just weren't enough resources every state was either going broke or didn't have the money and i think we have proven that i mean if you just look at the airport money a billion dollars is out the door it's spent and as i said i've been to twenty people that were on unemployment that didn't know whether they were going to have a paycheck by june or july and now they i mean this is real results and it could not have been done any quicker or any better and you know congress put some tough moresby process that means people have to continue working to process that food and produce it to canada to freeze it to whatever that means that more has to be purchased and that ultimately helps those who are farmers and ranchers who  are extraordinary individuals because they have the capacity to create not just enough food for us but also enough food for many many millions of people around the world so it is a process that basically through the economy  that now appreciate the chance to come to your beautiful state and i've told people many many times as i was riding in a vehicle to the streetcar event where we inaugurated the streetcar i would say between fifty and one hundred people riding their bikes to work i mean i mean you're the model for livable communities you're the model for what i think people around the country would like to replicate and a d and you've been way ahead of the curve on so many things so we've we've had great fun in your state and and great opportunities to meet very very innovative people the way that we've been able to meet all the deadlines beat all the deadline not only meet them but beat them was because of the extraordinary professional people we have a d o t i mean they've been waiting for a long time for this kind of opportunity they love their work they love to help people build roads and and runways and and create opportunities for jobs and all of this is done by the professional people at the o t they've done the work they deserve the credit for getting the money out the door and beat the time frame within which congress gave us and again i want to repeat this no earmarks no boondoggles no if you look on recovery dot gov what you'll see is where the money's being spent how many jobs where by by state by state and then this was really established by the white house the president did it get it right spend the money correctly this is a lot of money and our people have done it and we're grateful to them for carrying out what the president's vision is for as quickly as we possibly could on a state by state basis and in putting it to work as quickly as possible for two reasons one because there is the need and two because more product being purchased obviously helps those poultry farmers in the pork farmers and a ll the farmers in the country and we are certainly aware of the stress that your poultry farmers have undergone in the pork farmers in your state keenly aware one of the reasons we've done that is that we've been able to we've been able to use some of the powers that you've given us to purchase more product and we've been able to encourage our institutional purchasers to think about purchasing more for poultry we have instructed the farm service agencies and offices in fact we just recently sent a letter out to all of the all of the far out all of the direct loan borrowers asking them to if they're having difficulty to consider going into farm service office and instructing the farm service folks to look for ways in which those loans can be restructured refinanced redone so that interest rates are reduced the payments are deferred so the principles reduced if that's appropriate in an effort to try to keep folks on on the farm now we've also sent a similar letter to the commercial banks that have been working with us through our guaranteed loan program encouraging them to do the same because it's in their long term best interest to keep that customer in the farm on the farm we've also suggested the capacity of loans where collateral has been provided which is has to be sold at the collateral when it's sold instead of the money going to the bank it is allowed to be used for essential for farm families or to be able to put a crop in or to be able to survive in transition as it relates to the operating loans we have to hire contractors and then the money begins to flow and that a lot of money is beginning to flow now because a lot of a lot of projects have been approved have to award the contracts and then people really begin working and  monies were distributed based on a formula each state receiving an amount connecticut for example received in administrative money two hundred twenty one thousand and about eight hundred eighty four thousand additional resources  there is the use of those monies has been predominately to allow for transportation and storage of resources in the purchase of additional commodities  i can tell you i've been in as i said earlier i've been in a number of these banks and it is amazing they actually have segregated the stimulus from the regular purchases and it is remarkable how much food has been purchased from stimulus dollars and then they will turn to you and they will say this is feeding and providing hundreds of thousands hundreds of thousands and then you see folks you know who have never had to have assistance before never had had assistance before who are going to food and thankfully there are volunteers thankfully there are people who are concerned about this who are manning those food banks and volunteer and i know i as part