The Chesapeake Bay was in serious, serious trouble.

It was the Congress, not the Environmental Protection Agency, that passed the Clean Water Act.

We understand that population growth will continue. People want to live in this area. That means there is more pressure on construction.

The Federal Government should take a lead in the overall clean up.

The Chesapeake Bay is critically important to the State of Maryland, particularly important to our region.

It is very clear, the type of conduct that President Assad has done in Syria, his actions have created a humanitarian crisis, and now he has escalated to the use of chemical weapons.

But looking at the 2011-2012 Bay barometer, which noticed improvement on the oxygen levels and the reduction of dead zones, it also points out that we have challenges to meeting the overall goals.

We have a direct interest here. We not only have humanitarian reasons to respond to the use of chemical weapons, we have a direct American interest in that region.

This hearing is going to concentrate on how far we have come and how far we still need to go.

Well, let me thank all three of our witnesses. I think this has been extremely helpful.

I would suggest that as you have come to Congress for this authorization, if circumstances change and there is time to come to Congress, you will have the opportunity to come back to Congress and seek our participation.

What brings our Committee together, Democrats and Republicans, are ways that we can leverage investment, whether it is roads, bridges, transit systems or whether it is water infrastructure.

If we are all going to work together, then we have to have an aggressive policy to deal with the realities of construction.

I do object to using the Chesapeake Bay and its clean up as a way to tell people that what is being asked is impractical and impossible to achieve.

What is the timeframe for trying to get the parties together on the updated agreement?

I think you summarized it well about how success depends upon all being in and everyone doing their share because we cannot just do it alone.

Both of you have indicated your concern about American military involvement in Syria, that it could draw us into an internal conflict.

This has got to be done in a way the public will accept. Otherwise, we cannot sustain this.

Today is an opportunity to celebrate those successes and to highlight the strong efforts of all stakeholders.

And it will provide for a more open review?

I particularly want to thank my colleague, John Sarbanes, for being here.

I would hope we would have stronger international participation.

I think there is a role for the Federal Government to play here.

I rise to introduce legislation to modernize the Congressional budget scoring process with respect to health spending and the effects of preventive health care. Although the United States spends more than any other Nation in the world on…

I am optimistic that we should be able to use that framework to move forward with legislation that cannot only pass this Committee but can pass the U.S. Senate and House, to be signed by President Obama.