Tom Carper

I like to say if it is not perfect make it better, but we must also be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater by undermining critical protections for our communities, the environment and our health.

It cannot be business as usual, and we have to look at everything we do and ask if that is the right, smart way to do it.

I would just say to our chair and ranking member that maybe the idea of a Senate delegation with just Senators whose last names start with 'C' should go down to visit the northern triangle this fall.

One hundred and twenty-two politicians were killed in Mexico in the last election cycle--122 candidates. That is fueled by our drug demand and fueled by our immigration policy.

The situation we have now, with the most vulnerable people in our hemisphere putting themselves in the hands of the most violent criminal organizations in the world, is not acceptable.

It is good to see you. Thank you very much for your service.

A word of advice for counsel as we look for principal compromise on what is an important issue, but a difficult issue.

Anything you want to mention with an eye toward helping steer us toward some kind of principal compromise on what is a difficult issue, important issue.

Not only do people travel from far and near to see the endangered species, all kinds of threatened and endangered species on Delmarva Peninsula and in Delaware, but when they do, they spend money, and they support our local economies.

It is in all of our interests to make sure that we do have checks and balances in our system.

Congress should allocate additional funding to the services to implement the Endangered Species Act.

I believe--and I know that my colleagues believe--that funding has got to be part of the conversation.

Yet, in recent years, Congress has underfunded the Endangered Species Act, and the draft legislation that we are holding this hearing on today does not provide a meaningful funding solution for species conservation.

I continue to believe that our State, along with the Service and all States, could do exponentially more to recover species and prevent new listings with additional resources.

I am not fully convinced that a similar process is possible right now in Washington, DC.

The user fees, the ones that we traditionally use.

What we don't have is the will to pay for them.

If policy changed to require transit projects to use TIFIA and Federal grants for no more than, say, 50 percent of the total project cost, would that make TIFIA less attractive to project sponsors?

I think in the long term we move to a vehicle miles traveled approach.

I think you raised an important point, and I thank you for your comments.

And was deferral actually an attractive aspect as well, that comes with the TIFIA loan?

I am just trying to get at the toll rate versus the TIFIA rate.

One of the things that Brian mentioned, we are very grateful in Delaware for the program and the ability. This money actually enables us to build this road.

Public funding is critical for the majority of transportation projects; however, at times, lack of sufficient funding makes it difficult for agencies to build high cost projects, despite the many benefits that these projects might yield.

The TIFIA loan that we have obtained enabled the US 301 project to move forward, improving safety and regional mobility.