I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko), my friend and colleague, for the passion and commitment he has to his people and to the American people and beyond. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. ____________________

I thought that might be the case, the answer, but I threw it out there because we would like to get at this and have some assurances that these response mechanisms are actually in existence.

the fact is that this is a bad idea. This is not something we need. We don't want it.

We have done numerous hearings about the Arctic, about the necessity of understanding the Arctic in detail.

What resources would be necessary to deal with this Arctic situation, which we know is the new Northwest or Northeast Passage?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I am very, very disappointed in the administration in all this--as it continues to circle around and circle around what we know is a backup system that is readily available to us.

Could you expand on that and tell us what that study is all about and what technologies you are looking at?

Only last week an article ran in the Wall Street Journal entitled, 'Pilotless sailing is on the horizon.'

I thank the gentleman from New York with whom we have often on the floor talked about many, many issues, including making it in America and building a strong economy here. But a strong economy really depends upon the individuals that work…

Our Nation needs a backup system.

Wow. 80 percent of American families would be able to send their kids to school without tuition costs.