Tom Carper

Good. Thanks so much. One last quick question for you and Mr. Marinos.

I frequently say that the two most important ingredients to a healthy democracy are the same two ingredients that are helpful for a healthy marriage, and they are collaboration and communication.

Thank you for serving as our Acting Director in this capacity for a number of months.

I will ask that one for the record, if I could.

The greatest challenge we face on our planet is climate change; too much carbon in the air.

I have seen drunken sailors spend money, and I am reminded a little bit of that today.

For every dollar we provide in revenues, or for staffing, for technology at the IRS, they collect something like $5 or $6 in revenue.

Don't tax you; don't tax me; tax that fellow behind the tree.

I just want to salute Ford for the great leadership that you are providing in trying to gather a whole bunch of auto companies together.

Curtailing or reducing State authority under the Clean Water Act would inflict serious harm to State and Federal authorities established by Congress.

In general, no, they have not. There was a recommendation way back in 2013 by GAO that NEPA should include climate risks as part of its consideration, and that is currently not the case.

President Trump agreed, and he repealed the Clean Power Plan and replaced it with an unambitious, ultimately illegal plan that was thrown out by the courts.

It is the job of those of us and our Federal Government and the government at all levels to come together and make those opportunities a reality for the American people.

Let's show America we can do it quick, we can do it well, we can do it safely and reliably, and we can do it in our lifetimes, so we leave something better for our children behind.

Because that is where a good deal, not all, but a good deal of the emissions are.

A future of more suffering from climate change is not written in stone. We can invest in a cleaner, more resilient electric sector.

Forty percent of American households are now served by utilities that have pledged to completely decarbonize by 2050.

There will need to be thoughtful policies in place to try to find work and training in new sectors for people who are losing their job as a result of this transition.

American utilities are already far surpassing its goals.

President Obama understood this, and that is why he set a national target to reduce power plant emissions by about 32 percent below 2012 levels.

NEPA is not a primary cause of Federal infrastructure project delays.

We need to get serious about it, deadly serious.

I certainly remember my time on the Appropriations Committee having GAO come up first in a panel and having agencies come up second, and seeing where the truth was in the middle.

I think that is a critical role for OMB and GAO to play together.

I think it is a real mistake to advocate for earmarks and to be blase about it.