Thank you, Madam Chair, for scheduling this, and thanks to all of you for coming and providing such insightful and in-depth testimony. I appreciate it.

Right. But under current law, that rather diminishes the efficacy, I suppose, of the treble damages provision in that you have got to show that it was a willful, knowing violation of the patent, and even then there is discretion in the…

But once that commitment is made, you have got to stick with it.

any actions that potentially limit participation in a standards development organization could be detrimental to consumers.

I think I would like to start with Ms. Munck. Ms. Munck, first of all, I should tell you you are in good company. Both I and Senator Coons are the fathers of twins.

Any conflict between these two important elements of our economy necessarily affects consumers and is a matter of real concern for this Subcommittee.

There are those who say that this is more of a theoretical problem than a real one.

Are there ways of keeping that leverage in check? For each leverage point, is there a counterpoint?

It is one of the biggest agencies that we have, and it has one of the lowest levels of morale on record, based on the surveys. And when you have vacancies at the top, you have this vacuum that is unfulfilled, and there is a total lack of…

A WRDA has not been authorized since 2007. A new authorization is necessary to continue approved flood control.

This seems especially important in light of the landmark study released this week by DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory showing no evidence that fracking chemicals impacted drinking water in western Pennsylvania.

I am concerned that the EPA has failed to include a risk assessment as part of this study.

I would love to explore that question of the impacts.

It bothers me that the Office of General Counsel refuses to meet with us.

SABs were created to provide scientific advice to this Committee.

The Agency's figures and characterizations were misleading, lacked relevant context, and were designed to produce self-fulfilling results.

Unfortunately, despite promises made to the members of this panel, EPA's lawyers have prevented the supposedly independent panel of experts from responding directly to these questions.

I am hopeful that leaders at ONC and CMS are paying attention to our hearing this morning.