Melody introduced them, but let me take time to also thank Secretaries Duncan and Salazar, OBM Director Peter Orszag, Surgeon General ReginaBenjamin, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan and Nancy-Ann DeParle.
It begins with the doctors and nurses who stayed behind to care for the sick and the injured without equipment, without electricity -- like our nation's Surgeon General, Dr. ReginaBenjamin -- (applause) -- who mortgaged her house, maxed out on her credit cards so she could reopen her clinic and help care for victims of the storm.