For me, these benefits are not just about economic opportunities; they are critical tools for reintegration and readjustment to civilian life.

I really do hope that we are able to work on a bipartisan basis to pass these two bills.

I think of the statistic that we are confronted with in Congress that there are more job openings in America today than there are unemployed Americans.

This bipartisan legislation will modernize how we assist servicemen and women as they transition to civilian life by placing a focus on what a career really means.

Secondly, today's hearing has shown that this Committee leaves politics at the door. That is pretty refreshing.

We have a responsibility to provide America's servicemembers with the best possible resources and opportunities as they transition back to civilian life, and we must do more to meet that responsibility.

I am proud of the work we are doing here today, and I am especially proud of the way we are doing it, in a bipartisan manner.

They most certainly are assets because they exhibit qualities of teamwork. They exhibit qualities of leadership, of a service to a cause greater than themselves.

We must be sure that our veterans aren't just getting a piece of paper, but a real plan of transition to civilian life.

I think the work of this committee is significantly overdue. This is a scientific, health, political, economic, national security, environmental, and moral issue.

The real question, in my mind, is whether Americans will be using clean energy technologies that are developed here, that are researched, developed, deployed here, with American jobs and American ingenuity.

As far as the heavy hand of the federal government, I would like to remind my colleagues of the tens of billions of dollars that we subsidize fossil fuels with each year.

If we got a handle on homelessness in Southern California, the number of homeless veterans in this country would reduce exponentially. That is the epicenter.

How do you expect us to bear these burdens of adaptation--because in the Arctic we are well beyond the point of mitigation--if you erode our ability to fund these projects ourselves?

One of my concerns about the Administration's headlong rush to start drilling in the Arctic is the climate impacts of creating an entirely new oil and gas field out of a wilderness.

I am a proud Californian. And in regard to the claim that any measure being discussed would increase oil imports in California, I would remind my colleagues that my state has made an overarching commitment to cut all petroleum use in half…

The Administration is rushing an environmental impact statement on an oil and gas leasing program: is the impact statement correct in its findings?

Climate change is affecting the Arctic greatly. Please consider the climate impacts of oil and gas exploration in a wilderness. How is climate change impacting you?

We need to be absolutely clear that any aid is there to ease the Venezuelan people's suffering, not to make them pawns in political ploys.

As the Congress Member for California's 49th District, it is my distinct honor to represent over 700,000 Californians from North County San Diego and south Orange County. I have met countless constituents across the district who do…

I also find that very hard to believe, given the significance of the policy.

I find that hard to believe, seeing as it is such a significant change in policy, to allow sounds up to 160 decibels in the Atlantic but not in the Gulf.

I believe the Committee should insist on the production of any documents held by the agency that express concerns about the impact of the decision on the right whales.

I think we all agree how important it is to listen to scientists when developing public policy, particularly in an area like this where certain industries may have an outsized influence.

I have consumed it myself, Mr. Chairman, and I have lived to talk about it.