I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join with us to ensure that this program is given sufficient funding to meet the requirements of small systems.

I congratulate and thank the ranking member of the subcommittee, Mr. Tonko, and the vice chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Harper, for their bipartisan work to raise the profile of this issue before the subcommittee.

I have kind of asked Mr. Tonko and Mr. Harper to now get together and try to see where there are similarities and agreements.

Yes. If I may interrupt--he is saying, do you think that the authorization amount should be raised across the country?

If we really want to ensure that small and rural systems are providing safe and affordable water, we should reauthorize the whole SRF, not just the technical assistance piece.

Our responsibility on drinking water is comprehensive.

I appreciate your willingness to work with us in the past on such things as electronic submission of hazardous waste manifests.

The Internet has been a catalyst for our modern information economy and culture precisely because of these guiding principles.

If we work with the industry on chemical data reporting, that should help us get a better idea of what that number is, do you agree?

I did not see the need for net neutrality rules, and some of my colleagues had to be dragged 'kicking and screaming' toward our draft bill.

I appreciate the effort, but, again, I just want to use this opportunity, as I think we can get there.

the U.S. is being penalized because of these extreme actions.

Our economy and our communities are better served by ISPs that can invest in services rather than in lawyers.

Today's hearing gives us a chance to compare the Agency's individual budget request with EPA's underlying statutory authority.

you are forcing a select set of victims, including coal relying consumers, communities, regions, businesses, and utilities to bear a substantial part of what is a global problem.

I hope that all of us here in the room will continue to engage in a productive dialogue and use the tools at our, and only our, disposal to end the net neutrality debate once and for all.

And the last thing I want to do is--I also want to just kind of weigh in on the RFS positively, hoping that we do get a standard.

You have promised me numerous times that you as Secretary would continue to follow the law of the land. Is that still true?

There is a resolution. It is supposed to go to Yucca Mountain. That is where it is supposed to go.

But the question is, under the law you are required to defend the application. Are you willing to follow the law and defend the application?

I just make that point obviously because it is Illinois, and that is a traditional DOE project from the original FutureGen to now FutureGen 2.0 to pulling it away.

$3 billion or $5.7 billion could be very helpful in the State of Nevada transitioning to--restarting and opening Yucca Mountain.

The administration needs to appreciate that there is a change occurring in the State of Nevada.

I want to welcome and thank our witnesses who are joining us or rejoining us today.

Some folks may be tempted to think there are easy solutions to this problem, but from our hearing this past November, we learned we have a long way to go to understand it.