    [Senate Hearing 109-455]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                            S. Hrg. 109-455

     NOMINATION HEARING OF RICHARD RAYMOND TO BE UNDER SECRETARY FOR FOOD
                       SAFETY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   before the

                           COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE,
                            NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY

                              UNITED STATES SENATE

                           ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                   __________

                                 JUNE 22, 2005

                                   __________

                           Printed for the use of the
               Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

      Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.agriculture.senate.gov

                                     ______

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               COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY

                       SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia, Chairman

    RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana            TOM HARKIN, Iowa
    THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi            PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont
    MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky            KENT CONRAD, North Dakota
    PAT ROBERTS, Kansas                  MAX BAUCUS, Montana
    JAMES M. TALENT, Missouri            BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, Arkansas
    CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming                DEBBIE A. STABENOW, Michigan
    RICK SANTORUM, Pennsylvania          E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska
    NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota              MARK DAYTON, Minnesota
    MICHEAL D. CRAPO, Idaho              KEN SALAZAR, Colorado
    CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa

                Martha Scott Poindexter, Majority Staff Director

                    David L. Johnson, Majority Chief Counsel

                  Steven Meeks, Majority Legislative Director

                          Robert E. Sturm, Chief Clerk

                    Mark Halverson, Minority Staff Director

                                      (ii)

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page

    Hearing(s):

    Nomination Hearing of Richard Raymond to be Under Secretary for
      Food Safety, Department of Agriculture.........................    01

                                  ----------

                            Wednesday June 22, 2005
                        STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY SENATORS

    Chambliss, Hon. Saxby, a U.S. Senator from Georgia, Chairman,
      Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry..............    01
    Hagel, Hon. Chuck, a U.S. Senator from Nebraska..................    02
    Nelson, Hon. Ben, a U.S. Senator from Nebraska...................    07
    Salazar, Hon. Ken, a U.S. Senator from Colorado..................    09
                                  ----------

                                   WITNESSES

    Raymond, Richard, M.D., of Nebraska, to be Under Secretary for
      Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture....................    03
                                  ----------

                                    APPENDIX

    Prepared Statements:
        Harkin, Hon. Tom.............................................    12
        Nelson, Hon. Ben.............................................    13
        Raymond, M.D. Richard........................................    16
    Document(s) Submitted for the Record:
        Raymond, M.D. Richard (Biographical Information).............    20
    Questions and Answers Submitted for the Record:
        Harkin, Hon. Tom.............................................    50
        Grassley, Hon. Charles E.....................................    72

                                   NOMINATIONS

                                  ----------

                            WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2005

                                           U.S. Senate,
              Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in
    room SR-328A, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Saxby
    Chambliss, chairman of the committee, presiding.
        Present or Submitting a Statement: Senators Chambliss,
    Grassley, Nelson and Salazar.

    STATEMENT OF HON. SAXBY CHAMBLISS, A U.S. SENATOR FROM GEORGIA,
      CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY

        The Chairman. Good morning. We are pleased to be here today
    to consider the nomination of Dr. Richard Raymond to be the
    Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety. Dr. Raymond
    currently serves as the Director of the Nebraska Department of
    Health and Human Services Regulation and Licensure.
        As Director of Regulation and Licensure, he oversees
    regulatory programs involving health care and environmental
    issues that affect public health. He was appointed to the
    Regulation and Licensure Director position by then-Governor
    Mike Johanns on October 26, 2004.
        While I apologize for being late, I have been sitting with
    the former Governor Nebraska in my office for the last few
    minutes discussing some agricultural issues, Dr. Raymond.
        Since January 1999, Dr. Raymond has also been serving as
    Nebraska's Chief Medical Officer, overseeing public health
    programs, including disease prevention, health promotion and
    preparedness planning. Dr. Raymond is currently President of
    the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and
    has served on the Association's Preparedness Committee and Food
    Safety Committee for 3 years.
        He is a lifelong Nebraska resident who practiced medicine
    in rural Nebraska for 17 years. Dr. Raymond also established
    and directed a community-based family practice residency for
    Clarkson Medical Center for 10 years. Dr. Raymond is joined
    today by his wife, Jane, and by Marlene Goroff, a family
    friend.
        We are also pleased that Senator Hagel, who is my good
    friend, is with us today to introduce Dr. Raymond to the
    committee.
        Senator Hagel, welcome to the Ag Committee and we look
    forward to your introduction.
        [The prepared statement of Senator Tom Harkin can be found
    in the appendix on page 12.]

      STATEMENT OF HON. CHUCK HAGEL, A U.S. SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA

        Senator Hagel. Mr. Chairman, thank you. It is always a
    privilege to be with you, and especially in these hallowed
    halls of glory and power in the Senate Agriculture Committee
    room. So I know I am not worthy, but nonetheless you have
    allowed me a reprieve and a visa for 1 hour.
        The Chairman. You will get an extra bag of peanuts for
    those comments.
        [Laughter.]
        Senator Hagel. Thank you, sir. Georgia peanuts.
        The Chairman. That is right.
        Senator Hagel. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased and very proud
    this morning to be here to introduce this committee to a very
    distinguished Nebraskan.
        The United States food supply, as we all know, is the
    safest in the world. It is critical that the U.S. continue that
    standard and remain on the cutting edge of food safety. Strong
    leadership and innovative thinking is essential to that goal. I
    believe the President's nominee to be the next Under Secretary
    of Agriculture for Food Safety fulfills those requirements.
        Mr. Chairman, I am very, very proud to introduce to this
    committee the individual the President believes is best
    qualified to provide that leadership, Dr. Richard Raymond. His
    humble upbringing in Loup City, Nebraska, and passion for
    public service gave him the foundation to become one of our
    Nations' most knowledgeable and hard-working public health
    professionals.
        Over the last 6 years, Dr. Raymond has served as the Chief
    Medical Officer for the Nebraska Health and Human Services
    System, as you have noted. His innovation and efforts have been
    instrumental in crafting Nebraska's nationally recognized
    public health system.
        Dr. Raymond and I have worked closely together on
    initiatives to enhance and expand public health care in
    Nebraska and the public health workforce in rural America. I am
    confident that his leadership, experience and depth of
    knowledge will maintain and strengthen U.S. food safety
    standards. President Bush and Secretary Johanns could not have
    picked a more respected professional for this job.
        I might note on a personal level, Mr. Chairman, that Dr.
    Raymond was telling me, not unlike so many dynamics in America,
    that his father once worked for the USDA in 1942, then enlisted
    in the Army to serve in World War II, and that may have well
    been an early seed, a seedling, a Raymond seedling, for a
    future distinguished senior public official in the United
    States Department of Agriculture.
        So again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for allowing me the
    privilege to be here this morning to introduce Dr. Raymond, and
    I am confident that he will serve with great distinction and
    honor.
        Thank you.
        The Chairman. Senator, thank you very much for being here.
        Dr. Raymond, I will tell you, you couldn't have a better
    person to bring with you to introduce you to this committee
    than my good friend, Chuck Hagel.
        Senator Hagel. Thank you. Now, he is on his own.
        The Chairman. You don't want to be under oath with him. Is
    that what you are telling us?
        Senator Hagel. I get nervous under oath.
        [Laughter.]
        Senator Hagel. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        The Chairman. Dr. Raymond, we welcome you. As I am required
    to do, I will ask you to stand and raise your right hand,
    please.
        Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give
    before this committee shall be the truth, the whole truth and
    nothing but the truth, so help you God?
        Dr. Raymond. I do.
        The Chairman. Do you agree that, if confirmed, you will
    appear before any duly constituted committee of Congress if
    asked?
        Dr. Raymond. I do.
        The Chairman. Thank you very much and we look forward to
    your comments.

     STATEMENT OF RICHARD RAYMOND, M.D., OF NEBRASKA, TO BE UNDER
       SECRETARY FOR FOOD SAFETY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

        Dr. Raymond. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, Senator
    Harkin and other distinguished members of the committee who
    will review this testimony, I am grateful for the opportunity
    to appear before you this morning as President Bush's nominee
    for Under Secretary for Food Safety at the United States
    Department of Agriculture. I want to thank the President and
    Secretary Johanns for their support and trust in nominating me
    for this important position. I also want to thank Senator Hagel
    for taking time from his busy schedule and for his kind
    introduction.
        For the record, I am Richard Raymond from the State of
    Nebraska, and I am very humbled, and at the same time very
    honored to have been nominated to serve our Nation in this
    capacity.
        As you mentioned, with me today is my wife, Jane, to whom I
    have been married for 35 years, and she is accompanied by her
    best friend from her high school days, Marlene Goroff, who was
    also her bridesmaid at our wedding 35 years ago.
        Our children would like to have been here today, but work
    obligations did not allow that. We have a son who lives in
    Kansas City, Kansas, and a daughter who lives in Fort Collins,
    Colorado.
        All of Jane's and my grandparents were Nebraska farmers and
    all of our parents grew up on Nebraska farms. As Senator Hagel
    mentioned, I think it is very interesting that my father's
    first W-2 form when he came off of the farm was with the then-
    Farm Security Administration, a branch of USDA at that time.
        I grew up in the small rural town of Loup City, a town of
    1,400 people. In a town of that size, in the summertime you
    work on farms, and you work on farms on the weekends as the
    only source of income. My wife grew up in Wilber, another
    Nebraska town, a community of about 1,400. I went to college in
    Hastings, Nebraska, attended medical school at the University
    of Nebraska Medical Center, and then did a rotating internship
    in Spokane, Washington.
        Because of the appreciation and the value that Jane I have
    for living in small, rural areas and rural communities, we did
    return to Nebraska to practice family medicine and to raise our
    family in the O'Neill, Nebraska, area, a rural community area
    with a population of about 4,400 people.
        My interest in public service and public health is deeply
    rooted in the community of O'Neill, and also in the small town
    of Loup City and the people I have served as a medical
    physician for over 30 years. As a family doctor in a rural
    community, I was the key public health official to my friends,
    my neighbors and my family.
        Their trust was not only rewarding, but it sparked in me a
    greater interest in public service and public health. After 17
    years of rural practice, I was fortunate to have the
    opportunity to establish and then direct a community-based
    family practice residency program in Omaha, Nebraska. That
    residency program had a goal of training young family
    physicians in the needs and rewards of practicing in rural
    communities, and we also prepared them to succeed in rural
    practice, which is quite different than an urban practice.
        My appointment in January 1999 as the Chief Medical Officer
    for the Nebraska Health and Human Services System by then-
    Governor Johanns presented me with the opportunity to further
    extend the reach of public health. In the past, food safety
    officials in the public health community have focused almost
    entirely on preventing and responding to unintentional
    contamination of the food supply.
        But especially since September 11, 2001, we have come to
    realize that public health must include defenses against forces
    that would intentionally contaminate food, water and other of
    our life necessities. Governor Johanns recognized this and
    asked me to lead Nebraska's bioterrorism preparedness and
    response planning. The Nebraska Health and Human Services
    System has a staff of almost 6,000 people located in 100
    locations throughout Nebraska and a budget of slightly under
    $2.5 billion per year.
        The Nebraska Public Health System under my leadership went
    from only 20 counties with a health department to having newly
    established multi-county public health departments that now
    serve the citizens in all 93 counties of Nebraska to help us
    meet the new reality and the threats that we are faced with.
        If I am confirmed as Under Secretary for Food Safety, I
    will use my past experience as a scientist, medical doctor,
    educator and public health advocate and spokesperson to assure
    that America's food supply continues to be the safest in the
    world.
        I applaud the recent progress and improvements that have
    been made to our food safety system. I recognize this success
    is because of the tremendous efforts of thousands of dedicated
    public health professionals within the Food Safety and
    Inspection Service at USDA, but I know we can and we must do
    better.
        I believe that by working with this team of public health
    professionals and by cooperating, communicating and
    collaborating with other internal and external stakeholders
    that we can make additional strides in improving our food
    supply.
        Mr. Chairman, I assure you that if I am confirmed by the
    committee and then by the U.S. Senate, I will work with you and
    the members of this committee to earn your respect and your
    support as we work together to make our food supply the safest
    possible.
        Thank you, and I look forward to trying to answer any
    questions you may have.
        The Chairman. Thank you very much, Dr. Raymond.
        You have clearly had a distinguished career in rural
    medicine, as well as in public health administration. Could you
    share with the committee how you believe these and any other
    experiences have specifically prepared you to lead the USDA
    Food Safety Inspection Service?
        Dr. Raymond. Mr. Chairman, I have come to believe strongly
    in the principles of public health. Any time we are faced with
    a problem and need a solution, I think we need to do a thorough
    assessment, that we need to develop policy to address those
    issues, and then we need to come back and do an assurance to
    make sure that the policy is being met and that we have
    improved the public's health and safety.
        Having worked in a small State, population-wise, to prepare
    us for any public health emergency, be it intentional or
    unintentional, has required working with multiple individuals
    from multiple walks of life, multiple advocates and multiple
    associations to combine what could be viewed as a limited
    personnel population to gather the expertise from everybody we
    possibly could.
        I think in Nebraska we have done a wonderful job of
    building our preparedness efforts by using people internal and
    external, and listening and responding and doing the
    assessments.
        The Chairman. Given your background as a local medical
    practitioner and in rural public health programs, could you
    characterize for the committee your own personal opinion of the
    present safety of the U.S. food supply?
        Dr. Raymond. Mr. Chairman, I believe the food supply safety
    is the best it has ever been right now. That said, I also know,
    as I said in my opening remarks, that we can also do better.
    And I think anytime you can do better, then good is not good
    enough.
        The Chairman. I understand that one of your duties as the
    Chief Medical Officer in Nebraska was to help direct the
    bioterrorism preparedness efforts in your State related to
    public health and food safety. In addition, I know that you
    served on the Food Safety Committee for the Association of
    State and Territorial Health Officials.
        Would you explain to the committee in a little more detail
    what your responsibilities and activities were in those two
    areas?
        Dr. Raymond. Certainly. Mr. Chairman, I would like to give
    you an example of what we did in Nebraska. I don't remember the
    exact date, but when we got the guidelines for the cooperative
    agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Protection
    that said how the $1.1 billion was going to be distributed to
    the States to build preparedness, Nebraska was informed that we
    would get $8.5 million.
        In the guidelines, there was a list of about 30 individuals
    or associations that needed to be on the advisory committee to
    help guide us on how we were going to spend those dollars to
    better prepare Nebraska for bioterrorism possibilities.
        I looked at that list that night. Things like the Red
    Cross, the Office of Rural Health, EMS, hospitals
    associations--they were all on there. But one large constituent
    that was not on that list was agriculture, and the following
    morning when I got to work, I called Merlin Carlson, who at
    that time was the Director of Ag for Nebraska and told Merlin
    we have $8.5 million to help prepare Nebraska for biological
    attack, and I think that includes agro terrorism, Merlin.
        He was in my office in 5 minutes with a cup of coffee and
    we sat down and made a plan to include ag on our committee, and
    we also continued to support ag financially from those grants
    to run what is called the LEDRS Program in Nebraska.
        The Chairman. Nebraska is a State that has a lot of
    production of agricultural products both for feed use as well
    as for human consumption. You also are one of the leading
    livestock producers, as well as one of the leading packaging
    and processing States in the country.
        With the leadership that you have provided to the folks in
    Nebraska, are you confident from the farm to the grocery store
    there are mechanisms in place to detect any potential input of
    bioterrorism agents in that food supply such that the people of
    Nebraska and other parts of the country that buy those products
    would be safe?
        Dr. Raymond. Mr. Chairman, as I said earlier, I know we are
    dramatically better than we were four or 5 years ago. That
    doesn't mean we are where we need to be. When you look at the
    rates of recalls, the rates of human illness from food
    pathogens and the rates of positive sample testing of the
    products being produced in America and you see those rates
    going down dramatically over the last 4 years due to the work
    of the Food Safety Inspection Service, that in itself says our
    food is safer because what we do to protect our food from
    accidental contamination also helps protect our food supply
    chain from intentional contamination.
        That said, we will look at all options, if I am confirmed,
    to find the most effective and most efficient way to accomplish
    the goals of the Office of Food Safety, and that certainly
    involves and includes protection against intentional
    contamination.
        The Chairman. If you are confirmed as Under Secretary for
    Food Safety, what are some of the key challenges or
    opportunities related to U.S. food safety that you look forward
    to addressing in that new role?
        Dr. Raymond. One of the things that we do need to do--and I
    look at them as both challenges and opportunities--one thing
    that I do feel that I have learned from the briefings and the
    reading that I have done is that we can improve our
    communications. I think we can improve our communications
    within the system, within the agency, within the Department and
    within other Federal agencies that have responsibility to
    assure food safety. I think we can also improve our
    communications with our constituents, with the public and with
    industry.
        I am certain that can be done. I know it has to be done.
    One of the responses to any type of infectious disease,
    intentional or unintentional, is rapid communications with the
    public and with the producers, and I know we can do better
    there.
        The other challenge, but also opportunity, I see is to
    improve our laboratory network system. We must have a robust
    laboratory system to promptly find sources of contamination and
    identity them so we can identity and treat them, and the labs
    must be able to communicate with each other. If we have a
    contaminant in California and one in Florida that has the same
    DNA footprint, that might be intentional as opposed to
    accidental. We must be able to do that better than the capacity
    that we currently have.
        The Chairman. The reason I was late getting here was I was
    visiting with the Secretary about an issue of critical
    importance not just to the livestock industry, but to all
    Americans who enjoy beef and other livestock products. That is
    this issue of BSE that has raised its ugly head over the last
    couple of years in this country as well as with some of our
    trading partners.
        Your perspective may not necesarily involve the trade
    implications of BSE. However, that is one of the issues the
    Secretary and I were talking about this morning, but also
    critically important is the food safety side of the issue of
    BSE.
        Would you comment and give us your thoughts on what
    potential there is for harm being done to the domestic food
    chain because of the possibility or even the probability of BSE
    being found in the United States?
        Dr. Raymond. Mr. Chairman, I know that opening the borders
    to trade is one of the Secretary's very top priorities, and
    therefore it will be done of my top priorities. While I won't
    be involved in the actual trade discussions, my job, I think,
    is to assure the Secretary with the best science possible that
    the public's health is protected by the current measures that
    we have instituted in this country to protect against us BSE. I
    do think they are working.
        I do think, if confirmed, the Secretary will look to me to
    be a partner. I do feel, and I think he feels, that the best
    marketing tool for our producers is to guarantee the public a
    safe product.
        [The prepared statement of Dr. Richard Raymond can be found
    in the appendix on page 16.]
        The Chairman. It looks like I am being surrounded by
    Nebraskans this morning. We have been joined by one of your
    finest, and that is my good friend, Senator Ben Nelson.
        Senator Nelson.

       STATEMENT OF HON. BEN NELSON, A U.S. SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA

        Senator Nelson. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am sorry
    to be late, as well. I had an unavoidable conflict that I had
    previously scheduled, but I would like to say thank you for
    holding this hearing and giving the opportunity to me now to
    make some comments about Dr. Raymond.
        One only needs to review Dr. Pierson's statement last month
    in the Federal Workforce and Agency Subcommittee to understand
    the complexity of the food safety regulatory system. I might
    add also my thanks for Dr. Pierson's service to USDA in his
    role as Acting Under Secretary.
        As Dr. Raymond appears on the scene, I think he inherits
    the world's safest food supply and knows that as time goes by,
    that is what we need to continue to be able to have and protect
    and project for the rest of the world at a time when we end up
    with trade implications with countries unilaterally taking
    exception to our food safety, as in the case of the country
    Japan in working their way through what appears to me to be
    nothing more than a non-tariff trade barrier on our beef today.
        I have got a longer statement, very positive, about Dr.
    Raymond, with all the experience he has had in practicing in
    rural areas, that I would like to put in for the record.
        The Chairman. Without objection.
        [The prepared statement of Senator Ben Nelson can be found
    in the appendix on page 13.]
        Senator Nelson. My question today is as you are looking at
    FSIS--and it is a food safety, food security issue today--do
    you have the necessary tools to be able to do what is required
    to assure the world and the Nation that we will continue to
    have the world's safest food supply?
        Dr. Raymond. Senator Nelson, thank you for that question. I
    do. From the information that I have been able to gain in the
    last couple of weeks since the nomination was announced, I do
    feel the tools are there. I also feel we can make more
    efficient use of those tools and do a better job and expand
    some of what we do by taking a look at how the agency goes
    about its business, if I get that opportunity.
        Senator Nelson. In that regard--and maybe you don't know,
    but I hope that if you don't, you will be able to find out--
    what kind of coordination is there between food safety today
    and food security, which could also raise a question about the
    ultimate food safety of American products?
        Dr. Raymond. Senator, I think food safety and food
    protection go hand in hand. I really do feel you can't have one
    without the other. I think whether it is an intentional or
    unintentional contamination of our food supply, in Nebraska
    when we received those very important bioterrorism preparedness
    dollars, what we did was we spent every single dollar to
    improve our public health preparedness for Mother Nature, for
    tornadoes, for West Nile Virus, but also for intentional acts
    of contamination such as small pox and other events. They
    really do go hand in hand.
        Senator Nelson. Is there a system in place or a mechanism
    to keep that coordination, if you know?
        Dr. Raymond. Senator, I do know that the agency has hired
    additional personnel, with their sole responsibility being
    protection of the food supply from intentional contamination,
    and that they have actually established a separate office to
    make sure that everything is being done that can be done to
    protect that.
        Senator Nelson. I think there is a test that is being run
    on one critter that was, I guess, tested initially positive for
    BSE. Do we know the age of that animal?
        Dr. Raymond. Senator, all I know is having read that that
    animal was born before the food bans were put into place.
        Senator Nelson. So we are still, as far as we are aware, OK
    with animals 30 months or under being free of BSE. Is that
    fair?
        Dr. Raymond. Senator, I think it is fair for me to respond
    that I am comfortable with that ruling from what I have read
    and learned and studied, yes.
        Senator Nelson. OK. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    Thank you, and I look forward to working with you, Dr. Raymond.
    I am sorry that you are leaving Nebraska, but we are glad you
    are here.
        Dr. Raymond. It was a very difficult decision to make
    because of my love for Nebraska, Senator, as I am sure it was
    when you came to work here.
        Senator Nelson. It has been. Thank you.
        The Chairman. We have been joined by Senator Grassley and
    Senator Salazar. Do either of you have any questions or
    comments for this witness?
        Senator Salazar.

      STATEMENT OF HON. KEN SALAZAR, A U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO

        Senator Salazar. Just a short comment.
        Dr. Raymond, I very much enjoyed our meeting yesterday. I
    recognize that when we come from the kinds of backgrounds that
    we come from, the rural areas, and have an opportunity to serve
    our country, it is a privilege. It also puts a warm place in
    our hearts to make sure that we are doing everything we can for
    agriculture and for rural communities. I very much look forward
    to working with you on the issues that will confront the
    Department on food safety.
        As we spoke yesterday, one of those issues that I want us
    to work together on is the whole issue of the Canadian border
    and making sure that the road map to opening up that border is
    a road map that is articulated and one that I can fully
    support. So I look forward to working with you upon your
    confirmation, as well as with other members of the USDA on that
    effort.
        Thank you very much.
        The Chairman. Dr. Raymond, thank you very much for being
    here this morning. It is our intention to move this nomination
    through the confirmation process as quickly as possible. In
    that regard, the record will be open for 5 days to give any
    other member of the committee the opportunity to submit
    questions to you. And if that should happen, we would ask that
    you please respond to those very promptly so that we can
    continue this nomination through the process.
        Thank you very much, Dr. Raymond, for your willingness to
    serve and we will look forward to staying in touch.
        Dr. Raymond. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        [The biographical information of Dr. Raymond can be found
    in the appendix on page 20.]
        [Whereupon, at 10:35 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]

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                                A P P E N D I X

                                 June 22, 2005

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                       DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

                                 June 22, 2005

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                             QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

                                 June 22, 2005

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