Jeff Denham

I agree that the final deadline should be 2018. This has gone on for 10 years now.

Flexibility of this kind would expedite the permitting process in constructing important infrastructure projects faster, saving taxpayer dollars and growing the economy.

In the 114th Congress, I introduced H.R. 2497, the NEPA Reciprocity Act.

This legislation is not going to solve all of our problems for California's Central Valley, but it will help us with the challenges we are facing with relicensing. We can do things better, we can do them more efficiently, and we can…

This week, we will see on the floor the Championing Healthy Kids Act. It will include a number of different reforms, which will include the Children's Health Insurance Program, the CHAMPION Act, and my bill, the CARE Act. We must increase…

What is your ballpark on 'soon'?

We are looking for the rule on this. We are looking for the implementation on this.

I would agree, and think that most tribes that come before this Committee also agree that much more needs to be done.

Tribes need to be able to maintain their ability to have land taken into trust.

Like most Members of Congress, I am very concerned about resolving the Carcieri decision in an equitable way for tribes.

If GSA could utilize public-private partnerships like ground lease, leasebacks without needing to provide the total project cost upfront, would GSA be interested in pursuing such opportunities?

Oftentimes, due to budgetary scoring rules, GSA undergoes successive operating leases, also resulting in paying for properties multiple times their value over the long run.

Thank you for holding a hearing on this very important issue and this very bipartisan bill.

Additionally, the bill allows utility companies to engage in responsible vegetation management along these rights-of-way, including language that I have added, which encourages the management practices for our pollinators, enhancing the…

We normally in this subcommittee, with the help of Mr. Capuano, we are usually very, very quick and very, very efficient.

This committee will be requesting to take a look at and receive copies of what the guarantee was, or the cost analysis that was used prior to approving the tapered match.

I would--I hate to assume anything in politics, but it seems to me that if a State or a project came back to the Federal Government and said, 'Hey, trust us, let me give you some information and show you how great we are, we would like to…

So you can see where my concern is going here.

How are you not sure? I am a little confused here.

The concern is to make sure that we have an open and transparent process

Well let me finish that quote from that hearing.

But you had 1,100 responses. Those 1,100 responses were pertaining to what?

But you understand my concern. If Mr. Richard is saying Prop 1A is for California high-speed rail, and you are using California high-speed rail money on a grant match for an upgrade to Caltrain, I want to make sure that we are not going to…

In 2011, the Authority issued a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEIs) and received more than 1,100 responses.

The cost growth that we have seen now is not the result of construction costs going out of control.