the lack of protections for employees gave people the opportunity to do things that were typically not against the rules because the rules were so flexible but very questionable when you looked at it from a moral or ethical point of view

there was very little transparency. There was a lot of distrust. There was a sense of, you know, in favor and out of favor employees

Madam Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time. The SCRUB Act poses real and significant dangers to the health and welfare of the American public. By focusing predominantly on the cost of the rules, the SCRUB Act's CutGo provision will…

Madam Chair, I claim the time in opposition. The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Maryland is recognized for 5 minutes.

Madam Chair, again I claim the time in opposition, but I will not oppose this amendment even though it does nothing to change the substance of the SCRUB Act or reduce the danger that it poses to the health and safety of the American…

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Speier).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman), a very distinguished member of our committee.

Madam Chair, I am very pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Beyer), the maker of the amendment.

Madam Chair, as the designee of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Beyer), I offer amendment No. 1. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 5, line 16, insert after ``reviews.''…

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this legislation. The SCRUB Act would establish a $30 million commission of unelected--and I emphasize that, unelected--bureaucrats to…

obviously, a hiring freeze and other kind of resource restrictions on the VA that are imprudent can have an impact

the hiring freeze and the impact that it's going to have on the ability of the agency to function at a high level and to meet the needs of the populations that it serves is obviously at stake here.

you impose this draconian hiring freeze when you have thousands and thousands of positions that are open, and that's going to aggravate a situation in which the agency can't deliver at the level that it should be able it to deliver.

I think that might give us some additional context and perspective on the potential impact that this freeze is going to have going forward.

the worst thing we can do is use very, very limited taxpayers' dollars to fix a dam that doesn't actually serve the intended purpose.

There is a need to remove dams that no longer are useful for their intended purpose.

I want to go to the attention of the lesser known dams that we have in our State that are no longer performing the function for which they were constructed originally.

We have no responsible party, I understand, that would pay to remove this dam.