John Sarbanes

I hope that today's hearing is the first step in continuing that legacy of strong bipartisan support for the Chesapeake Bay in this Congress.

The health of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed can only continue to improve through robust Federal, state, and local partnerships.

This bill takes important steps to support the ongoing restoration of the Chesapeake Bay by reauthorizing NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office and authorizing the agency's long-running Bay Watershed Education and Training, or B-WET Grant program.

It is important to be clear that EPA's proposed standards are reasonable, performance-based emissions standards and constitute neither a national electric vehicle mandate nor an internal combustion ban.

Each of which--each of which--would hamper EPA's ability to regulate air pollution and, unfortunately, continues this Republican agenda of putting Big Oil interests over the interests of the public.

Congress gave EPA this role more than 50 years ago under the Clean Air Act and reaffirmed that responsibility in 2005 under the Energy Policy Act.

They want to be on the field of their democracy. They want to feel like they have some power within their own democracy.

Without the strong and continued investment the EPA has requested for the Chesapeake Bay Program in fiscal year 2024, the risk is we could jeopardize decades of work in collaboration towards the Bay's restoration.

It's a national environmental treasure. It's a regional economic engine. It's been one of my top priorities since I've come to Congress.

The goal was not to federalize elections across the country; the goal was to set some uniform standards.

But these are dramatic changes that can bring us to a new place and, I think, have given many people a sense of hope instead of despair in the face of what we are seeing with a warming planet.

I have to say when we passed that Inflation Reduction Act, it was the first time in a long time that I did not feel powerless or feel that we were powerless in the face of climate change coming at us.

These are successes that are going to create new jobs. They are going to strengthen our domestic clean energy production.

The majority of Americans agree that climate change needs to be addressed now--not 10 years from now or 100 years from now, but now.

Maryland's total-cost-of-care model also allows our State to invest in other health system goals, like lowering the maternal mortality rate and the opioid overdose mortality rate.

If we have a better understanding of these factors, we can address them more effectively, which will, in turn, improve patient access and care overall.

As the Inflation Reduction Act reforms continue to be implemented over the coming years, we must continue to build on this success.

Last year, as you know, Congress finally--finally, after many, many decades, really--took the historic step of standing up to Big Pharma and enacting policies that are already--we are seeing it--lowering healthcare costs for millions of…

I do also want to commend my colleague, Representative Blunt Rochester, for the work that she has been doing.

I look forward to continuing to work on the Physician Reentry Initiative.

This is an important function that our committee plays. We take it seriously.

Congressman Blunt Rochester and I again have led a letter this year to the House Appropriations Committee requesting $11 million for the National Center on Health Workforce Analysis.

Thank you very much. And I appreciate you talking about the data, the importance of collecting information on where the shortages are.

A strong, well-trained workforce is critical to ensuring a high-quality healthcare delivery system.