John Sarbanes: “I was encouraged by the President's fiscal year 2012 budget with respect to the investments being made in some of the…”

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

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.

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.

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.