Climate change is real. I am not sure that we have had too many witnesses here that don't believe it is a real issue.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning.

The work of the Antitrust Division for well over a 100 years has been instrumental in the prosperity that we enjoy in this country because of the competition that has been spurred by that.

I am certainly excited about that bill and hearing the testimony on the same.

However, our national forests are facing immediate threats of devastation if we don't take the wildfire emergency seriously.

I want to talk a bit about the merger filing fee bill, which as you know we passed last year.

the budget that Republicans have proposed for the next Fiscal Year contravenes that Congressional intent.

I could not be more supportive of both, and grateful to their respective sponsors for bringing them forward.

I think that bump is profound for so many people's lives.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for having this important legislative hearing.

H.R. 4717 improves the stewardship contract system in several important ways.

Antitrust has spurred not just lower prices but more innovation.

For decades our nation has been engaged in a hands-off approach to managing our natural resources in the attempt to preserve wilderness.

Any attempts by OSMRE to supersede that authority such as their proposed dam safety rule and 10-day notice rule would not only be unwise, but would go against one of the most important tenets of the coal program's defining statute.

It underscores the importance of making sure that we get this bill across the finish line.

We absolutely need to be able to bring more young people into the work that we do in the woods in restoration and in firefighting.

We want to get a big piece of that.

We must do better for our environment and communities.