Ben Cardin

In Maryland, we are very interested in what is happening with the Chesapeake Bay and the EPA program in the Chesapeake Bay.

I applaud your tireless efforts to reform toxic chemical regulation and look forward to working with you on forthcoming legislation to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act.

I do want to welcome my constituent, Bill Boarman, to this Committee and strongly recommend his approval, his confirmation.

It is way too big, and we know we can't have a sustainable, fiscally responsible Federal budget unless we deal with the debt.

We also know that we need consumer confidence for people to spend.

I hope that what will clearly be nonnegotiable is that health care reform has got to bring down the growth rate of health care costs.

Sometimes it is easier when you have a budget surplus to spend recklessly.

The question really is how we can have a fiscally sustainable budget, so let me stay on health care for one more moment...

They do not have a good history of loaning moneys to small businesses.

Those who assert none of this is working are to me detached from reality.

We are all going to keep the pressure on the larger banks to make small business loans, but it is going to be a struggle.

I think we are all saying the same thing, but----

If we are looking at a sustainable budget, one could say the Federal Government could cut back on its commitments to pay for part of health care.

I want to get to the deficit, because everybody here has talked about the deficit.

If we are going to have a level playing field, why won't the administration be more aggressive on the currency issue?

I find it inexcusable that when we had a growing economy, we still allowed the debt to increase.

If we can help businesses hire more employees, that obviously is going to help us on the forecast.

I would clearly agree that we need to focus on our entire economy.

It certainly is a sobering analysis, and we all need to focus on this issue.

Historically most job growth has occurred with small businesses.

I believe we have got to strengthen the SBA even more.

How do we structure our foreign assistance budget that does not become a tool for anti-American intervention in the country?

I firmly believe that the development, manufacture and wide scale deployment of innovative renewable energy technologies will be critical to long-term job growth in the U.S. and the recovery of the nation's economy.

But whose responsibility was it to look into that information and determine as to whether he was actively involved in al Qaeda in Yemen?

I guess my concern is that it is not clear as to whose responsibility it was to take that information and to develop it.