Tom Carper

It is not fair to them also not fair to the people who we are here to represent, who pay their taxes and will not get the government services they expect and deserve.

The Administration needs to nominate good people for positions that require confirmation.

We have too many departments where we have no confirmed Inspector Generals.

It is not enough to just cut, cut, cut but they have to be encouraged and incentivized to find ways

WE MUST MAKE A SWIFT TRANSITION FROM FOSSIL FUELS TO CLEAN ENERGY

I have been interested for a while in the VMT proposal, in fact, when we considered MAP-21, I proposed a suggestion that we might create a research program to explore how we might structure a VMT fee.

One of the great things about States, there are 50 of them, 50 laboratories of democracy.

I want to come back to what you mentioned, the VMT, as one of the user fees that we should consider.

I think our infrastructure deficit is important. I think we need to fill it in.

This glass that is right here where I am sitting, it is empty. This is our transportation trust fund. It is empty.

Their recommendations were basically labeled dead on arrival. Dead on arrival.

I don't think it is a very smart way to do business.

I think that is a good step for us to take, and thank you for your leadership.

It doesn't get much better than that. It is a great combination. Win-win-win.

For every $1 that we appropriate for DERA, it leverages $3 additional.

DERA turned out to be a great idea, not just a great idea but actually great policy, averaging more than $13 in health benefits for every $1 in funding.

Cleaning up black carbon and dirty diesel emissions provides us with an opportunity to work across the aisle.

Excellent. That is all we have time for today, time is running out on the clock.

Thank you for that clarification.

We have to figure out a way to get some additional moneys moved, Federal moneys moved through the appropriation process into this program.

For every $1 that we appropriate through DERA, we get about $13 worth of health savings.

So in conclusion, diesel engines play a significant role in the U.S. economy and the U.S. is a leader in clean diesel technology.

It is the 80-20 rule. ... focus on the 80 percent where we agree, to see what we can get done.

This is a great bipartisan issue and if we work together it is amazing what we will get done.

Cutting such a successful program is penny wise and pound foolish, which is why I will work with my colleagues to restore funding for this effective law.