John Boozman

Thank you Madam Chair, and I want to echo the comments of the rest of the Committee about enjoying working with you...

That is such an important issue not only for you but the rest of Government.

I'm proud to introduce her today and express my strong support for her nomination.

No, I would agree, we need to really concentrate on the voluntary programs, which, again, it seems like from the testimony today and what we are seeing out in the field with increased technology that was testified also, that we really are…

I know I was really amazed this past summer, when we were on lots of farms, at the use of drones

I guess my concern is, you have all of these positive voluntary things. My concern is when you do something like Waters of the United States, which is so controversial, and there is going to be significant costs involved, what is that…

But certainty is--anything that we can do through our programs to add that certainty and have those programs stay in place is of great value.

We really do appreciate you calling this hearing to help us better understand the issues involving voluntary efforts by farmers and landowners to promote land and water conservation, with a focus on water quality and the role of…

EPA consumes resources that could be used for positive things.

There has been strong bipartisan support for water infrastructure improvements.

So has EPA bought into that? Do they recognize the fact that not only are you doing your best to reduce the phosphorus through the point source, but doing all these other things?

It takes effort and it takes expense. But to go from .3 to .1 is a huge jump.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

This really is a very important subject and I appreciate the witnesses being here and really look forward to hearing the testimony.

I appreciate your leadership in this area, Senator Cardin. I think we have had some really good hearings and have done a lot of good work.

Has anybody done some sort of a study regarding the increased cost?

Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Right now the United States uses more opioids than the entire rest of the world put together.

And they need to be treated very differently, which I do not think we are doing right now.

A veteran who is having suicidal thoughts should never be turned away because of bureaucratic red tape.

As has been stated, 22 veterans commit suicide every day in the United States. To say this is unacceptable would be a gross understatement. It is nothing short of a tragedy.

That is really what I wanted to know.

I continue to be concerned about the VA's over-reliance on medication as a means of treatment within the VA.

The complaint that I hear from so many veterans is they feel the VA is a restrictive bureaucracy whose first instinct is to say no.

I think it is a problem and I think it is something that we need to talk about and actually do something about.