Chris Van Hollen

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We look forward to working with you.

Because no matter who you are or where you live, health care simply is and ought to always be a fundamental right in America.

We are also working to reinstate what we call the Chesapeake Bay Czar.

We have a Chesapeake Forest Restoration Strategy.

Let me turn to the issue of American Indians in urban areas because in the state of Maryland, we have 40,000 individuals who identify themselves as American Indian or part American Indian and nearly half of that population resides in…

As you know, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed comprises six states, plus the District of Columbia.

This is not only a moral obligation, it's a trust and treaty responsibility that we must never lose sight of.

I am pleased to see the Biden Administration shares this commitment and has proposed significant new investments in the Indian Health Service.

We collectively set a goal to restore an additional 900 miles of forest buffers each year.

We are trying to get this introduced in the coming weeks and months.

There's lots of concern and uncertainty with the real prospect the Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade.

Thank you for recognizing how important the USGS is to the work that we do.

So many years ago, as part of an earlier version of the Farm Bill, I worked to include in the House, provisions that specifically gave the Forest Service a more direct role within the Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort.

I am confident that we will have that position filled. And I just ask you here to make sure that you and your team, you know, are fully plugged into that effort.

This is a broken area. It is one of the areas that doesn't get a lot of attention.

This is driving me crazy. I just had an example of somebody who had been on my staff who was accepted for a position dealing with arms control at the State Department.

There seems to be an awful lot of confusion about the current status of this program.

I want to do is let these individuals know whether they have a chance, right?

I just want your commitment to work with us to try to expedite a lot of the details we need to put in place to make it real.

I want to associate myself with the comments the chairman made in his opening remarks about your efforts to make sure that the State Department reflects the great diversity of talent in the country.

I do look forward and we will be following up with you and your team on this.

I think that is a mistake, especially as we witness the impact of solar flares on Starlink satellites.

It is very important that we stay in the vanguard of innovation.

Administrator Nelson, thank you for your enthusiasm, for all the initiatives that you are overseeing.