Press Releases

In many cases, these food programs serve as the face of the United States in foreign countries and subsequently they help set long lasting views of our country. With that in mind, I look forward to an honest discussion on how we can improve efficiencies that reduce costs and increase the positive impacts on the ground.

As we meet here to discuss the National Institutes of Health, the House is preparing to debate a budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year. The House majority is renewing its demands for more and more drastic cuts that will harm medical research and many other priorities vital to our well-being and our future.

Given the constrained fiscal environment, it is particularly important that we strategically plan each major program area to ensure we are proceeding in a deliberate and thoughtful manner, increasing or maintaining our lead in the areas where we can and limiting our investment where we cannot.

As improvements in technology give more people access they also mean that resources move online, and therefore internet access has become vital to being able to get a good education, find a job, or simply to connect with family around the world. Therefore, I am interested in the steps you are taking to broaden access and make sure that everyone who wants access can get it.

Overall, your budget request provides the structural outlines for a robust six year, $476 billion surface transportation proposal. It reflects a growing consensus among nonpartisan academics that an increased public investment in our transportation system is needed to maintain an efficient foundation for our economy.

I commend Secretary Salazar and the President for recognizing and acting on the severe and systemic shortcomings in the government's regulation of what is a high risk enterprise. The fact that Director Beaudreau and Director Watson are sitting before us today as the heads of two new agencies is emblematic of the changes that have been made and continue to be made by the Interior Department to protect the public and the environment.

We all understand the importance of conservation, and the efforts the Department of Agriculture is spearheading to protect these vital resources. We need to work with farmers to preserve farmland. We need to invest to conserve and restore what has already been damaged.

I am convinced that the commercial nuclear energy sector in the U.S. is safe and effective. That being said, we must ensure that the lessons learned from last year's tragedy at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility are heeded and we enhance the safety and emergency protocols at America's nuclear reactors.