Nomination of Tom Ridge to be Secretary of Homeland Security

SEN. COLLINS: Thank you, Senator Lieberman.

Before calling on other members for brief opening statements, I want to welcome two other new members to the committee. Senator Coleman of Minnesota, we're delighted to have you as a member of this panel. Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey, welcome back to the Senate, and again, welcome to the Governmental Affairs Committee.

We're going to follow the tradition of this committee in recognizing people who arrived in the order that they arrived. Senator Voinovich, it's my pleasure to call upon you.

I would ask my colleagues to keep their opening statements brief. We do expect early votes this morning, and we're hoping to conclude as many opening statements as possible. In fact, if one of you wish to just put your statement in the record rather than deliver it, that would certainly be an acceptable alternative.

Senator Voinovich, thank you for being here. And you may proceed.

SEN. COLLINS: Thank you very much, Senator Voinovich. You've been a leader in federal workforce development, and we look forward to your continued contributions.

I see that I neglected to recognize another of our colleagues who is new to this committee, Senator Shelby of Alabama. Because he has been so instrumental in homeland security and intelligence issues for so many years, it seems like you've always been a member of this committee. But we're delighted to have you.

I'd now like to turn to Senator Levin for his opening statement. Senator Levin has been a stalwart on this committee for many years, and we work very closely. And I look forward to hearing your remarks.