Excerpts from John Berry's Confirmation Statement

Two key paragraphs from Berry's statement, which he is scheduled to give shortly. Sen. Ben Cardin and Rep. Steny Hoyer have just wrapped up their remarks:

The Civil Service of today carries forward that proud American tradition. Whether it is defending our homeland against attack, restoring confidence in our financial systems and administering an historic economic stimulus effort, ensuring adequate health care and administering an historic economic stimulus effort, ensuring adequate health care for our veterans and fellow citizens or searching for cures to the diseases which plague us--we are fortunate to have our best and our brightest to rely upon. It is our people who are our most important tool in facing any challenge, and we forget that at our peril. I believe people are not merely part of the equation, like capital or technology. They are the equation.

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OUr workforce and human resource management system does not operate in a vacuum. It is connected and intertwined with every one of the President's priorities for economic recovery, energy, transportation, education, and health care. The pressues and demands on OPM are great, nearly as serious as those its predecessor--the Civil Service Commission--successfully met in the 1930s and 1940s. I believe OPM and its talented employees are ready to rise to these new challenges once again.