Chris Van Hollen

I believe in the role of the Pardon Attorney.

The power to pardon is a legitimate power. It is one that ought to be exercised with great care.

I want to associate myself with the comments of Senator Collins with respect to DACA.

There are Justice Department Byrne Grants that the Justice Department withheld and applied their own unilateral conditions.

But I believe back in the day, the GAO actually brought a case during the Nixon administration when they claimed the authority to simply withhold funds.

As you know, if the executive branch, regardless of party, refuses to release funds, it begins a clock ticking.

Well, I look forward to working with the Chairman here as well as others on the Appropriations Committee to ask GAO to look into the new proposals because most of the Federal agencies that are able to meet that level of security…

I look forward to supporting your budget requests because I think that the work the CBO does is very important.

But, Mr. Chairman, I agree with your statements that cutting this account by $700 million, along with the others, is a real retreat.

I think the reality is that Turkish actions have essentially required the Syrian Kurds to focus on defending themselves from the Turks instead of finishing the job against ISIS and getting about the job of rebuilding there.

I would just urge you, because to the Chairman's earlier comments, they are quoting a lot of leaders on the ground in Raqqa and the comment they make with respect to U.S. aid is it's been, the first one was it's been virtually invisible.

The destruction of Raqqa and its slow recovery are contributing to a growing sentiment here that the United States wrecked the city but is unwilling to take responsibility for putting it back together.

It's important to win the war and we are still fighting... if we don't start winning the peace... the militants will come back.

The proposed budget for AID and the State Department is irresponsible. It represents a total retreat from American leadership in many parts of the world, in fact all parts of the world.

We keep hearing, again, that folks have the tools, but the tools do not seem to be working because we keep getting these reports.

Where is the breakdown in the system? If these reports are accurate... we need you and the Fed and the OCC to be on the front lines.

They looked at 31 million mortgage records and found evidence of discrimination in mortgage lending in 61 metropolitan areas.

It talked about the four biggest banks. That certainly was not how the tax reform plan was advertised here on Capitol Hill.

I think Americans are waking up to the fact that since January 1st of this year, big corporations have spent $250 billion on stock buybacks.

The Maryland Attorney General, Brian Frosh, filed an amicus brief in this case that is before the Fourth Circuit to prevent these kinds of discharges into the Chesapeake Bay and other waters.

Those need to be permitted. But we cannot torture the Clean Water Act to extend it in a way that is not stated or in addition to congressional intent.

The current interpretation of the Clean Water Act does not find that to be a violation?

It is entirely wrong to call this an expansion of the Clean Water Act or a new regulation.

Let's not take rights away from the citizens and lock them up in the government; let's protect the citizens' rights that the Clean Water Act is truly based on.

But do you agree that the Federal Government is an essential partner in the Washington Metro System?