John Sarbanes: “Thanks very much, Mr. Chairman. And congratulations on taking up the leadership of this subcommittee.”

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.

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.

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.

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.