Ben Cardin

We have a responsibility in regards to the people who are still refugees from the Iraq conflict.

So we have a right to expect that the countries are fighting corruption.

Your statements about American foreign policy priorities including human rights have been received internationally.

You shouldn't be penalized because you did the right thing.

Clearly, being able to adjust, based upon the realities, need to be there.

I think we need to be more courageous than we have been historically and be more open to changing course when things aren't working.

If farmers in one State are treated differently than the farmers in another State with the same problem areas, that is not right; we need to have a coordinated plan.

You have to have a plan where, as you said all the lands are, whoever said, the last panel, said all the lands are included.

Well, one of the things we learned from the Chesapeake Bay Program is that we had 5-year plans, and we would wake up after the fifth year and say, gee, we didn't do what we said we were going to do.

We are constrained. We have a huge budget deficit in New York, $8.5 billion projected for next year.

I think having those measurable goals and then publicly announce those goals and measure our progress against that I think is critically important.

The programs that have been submitted dealing with nutrient reduction require a certain level from the agricultural practices.

Well, we will change the name to the Great Oceans.

I strongly urge the Senate to consider increasing the current Federal 50-50 match for Long Island Sound projects to a 75-25 match.

New York strongly supports the legislation authored by Senator Gillibrand to fold the Stewardship Act into the Restoration Act.

Senator Gillibrand was here earlier... wanted very much to extend her greetings to you.

This non-controversial measure will build on the work over the last two decades to restore Long Island Sound for the benefit of millions of Americans.

I am advancing legislation that would reauthorize these two important programs an additional 5 years at their current authorization levels.

The Lake Tahoe Restoration Act is not just an environmental bill. It is a jobs bill.

I think we need to start looking at different levels and where, when you request Federal participation, whether it is the concentration of a Federal agency that will be responsible for that body of water, or whether it is Federal funding…

I thought Senator Ensign's point about Lake Tahoe was a very telling point as the forestry has changed.

I interpret that to mean that if you don't have all of the watershed jurisdictions included in the program, then you really don't have a comprehensive plan.

I think back about the Chesapeake Bay and that its signature was that we had all levels of government.

Well, one of the things I am going to ask that we work collectively on, and that is between our Committee and the Agency, to have expectations of what we expect in these programs starting at the first levels for Federal participation.

There is no question that resources are a key issue.