John Sarbanes: “I take it, if the Senator will yield--I take it this is of such importance now because we are dealing with this problem…”

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.

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

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.

We would like to thank Rep. Sarbanes for introducing this important piece of bipartisan legislation