James Oberstar: “Yes, I was present at the creation of EDA. Actually, it started under President John F. Kennedy as an experimental…”

The gentleman from Washington is mistaken in his understanding or his reading of the amendment that I offer. It's an amendment to OPA. It is not an amendment to the dollar amounts and does not reference dollar amounts. Under OPA, of which…

We must move away from complete reliance on public funding for infrastructure and forge a new, stronger connection between private capital and infrastructure needs.

I completely agree with the gentleman. As the gentleman from Florida and I discussed in our hearing yesterday, the purpose of the trust fund is not to relieve anyone of responsibility. I was part of crafting that legislation in 1990 and…

I, too, have natural resources--national forests, national parks, wildlife refuges. When fire, as it does regularly, strikes the national forest, that land regenerates. The oil destroys. It likely cannot be restored by itself or by human…