I do not actually allow that in my committee, because I think it is important that the Administration--or any administration, actually--sits at the same table with those people over whom they make decisions.

I want to also emphasize the fact that you have three districts of the EPA that are involved in this area.

I expect we will hear the words '1872 Mining Law' repeatedly from both the Administration and the minority, as they attempt to ignore EPA's culpability, shift blame, and pursue action on an agenda that would decimate the mining industry.

If an individual or a private company had done this, EPA would have already made sure there was hell to pay.

Let me be clear. Secretary Jewell's refusal to testify today is especially egregious and disappointing, given the magnitude of this disaster and the breadth of its effect on her agency.

Both the EPA and the Department of the Interior will be held accountable, today and in the future, as the recovery efforts continue.

Refusing to sit alongside representatives of the states and tribes that have traveled across this country to discuss this disaster is simply unheard of, and is wrong.

Over a year ago, EPA began remediation on the Gold King Mine in Colorado that ultimately led to 3 million gallons of orange crap that went down the Animas and San Juan Rivers from Colorado into New Mexico, Utah, and perhaps even into…

EPA documents show the Agency was aware as early as June of 2014 that a massive blowout was possible.

Are we currently on schedule to meet this goal?

The United States officially does not take positions on sovereignty issues with respect to territorial and maritime disputes in the East and South China Sea.

More than $5 trillion worth of international trade traverses the South China Sea annually.

I would take issue with one aspect of what you said, though, that regardless of what benefits you might see from this, I would not say that signing onto a treaty is without any cost on our part without us giving up anything particularly…

I am having a hard time seeing why it is that a country like the United States that has used its power, its blood, and its treasure to protect navigation all over the world for 200 years has to, in order to gain some moral high ground…

It was quick to dispatch staff to the Navajo communities to hand out Standard Form 95 and encourage members of the Navajo Nation to fill out forms to expedite settlement of their claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act, and apparently to…

I hope he has the guts to stand here and ask the President of the Navajo Nation if what we are doing here today is a farce.

The media was receiving faster and fuller information from the EPA than the Navajo Nation.

You took 2 days before you called them.