We are trying to make sure we have IGs at all the right spots.

One of the problems we face right now is... executive branch Swiss cheese.

I think this is an embarrassing avoidable failure that highlights the dysfunction that has dominated Congress for the past several years.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

By cleaning up our school buses, DERA reduces our black carbon emissions and employs thousands of workers who manufacture, who sell or repair diesel vehicles and install the components in each State.

Let me emphasize, we believe there is still plenty of work to do that will allow more need for these programs.

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

Clean air is not a partisan issue on Capitol Hill.

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

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

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.

I don't believe that Americans are especially interested in Democratic ideas or Republican ideas. They are interested in good ideas.

If they are idling, if they are not idling, if they stop the idling, you save fuel and probably save some lives as well.

The success of these strategies has not gone unnoticed by the international community.

My colleagues and I were sent to Washington to govern and to find commonsense solutions to the challenges that face our Nation.

Is it possible to clean our environment, clean our air and create jobs at the same time? ... the answer is very encouraging: yes.

Again, thank you so much for being here, thank you for the great work that you are doing in this arena.