Richard Burr

You have called for it to be closed.

I think that we have to hit this fairly accurately from a standpoint of the size of these institutions.

I would like you to take a clean piece of paper and I would like you to design the system as if we were standing up a process of processing claims and allowing for appeals.

The time might be ripe for shortening certain statutory and regulatory response periods for the purposes of expediting the processing of claims and appeals.

If we can bring down that remand rate, there is no question that we can improve the timeliness of our decisionmaking overall within the system.

I am anxious to hear those individuals who are here to testify, and I thank you for calling this hearing.

I think we would all agree that is unacceptable.

I encourage you to get with General Motors, because they cannot figure out how to make money.

Is the federal government simply going to tell those officials that they were wrong and simply didn't look closely enough?

The fact that we haven't proceeded forward is because we haven't had a comprehensive blueprint of energy policy for the future.

I do not believe any of these programs directly align with what Senator Bingaman and others are proposing.

If we adopted reprocessing in this country, we could--instead of storing 97 percent, using 3 percent, we could use 97 percent and store 3 percent.

I'm just not sure that I want to be a participant in something that accomplishes a good feeling, but not an effective cost for the ratepayers in the States that don't have the benefit.

It's going to be costly to them...

I think it's in our country's interest to decide to produce more of our electricity from renewable sources.

I would ask that you and the Congress strongly consider doing exactly what was done in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

A national RES would be good for the environment, good for the economy, and good for our country.

I am disappointed that we do not have an Administration witness to explain how an RPS would be implemented at the federal level.

I look forward to working with the committee to draft legislation that meets the goals of a national RPS while taking into consideration regional differences.

We must be sure to craft a policy that utilizes all resources that achieve the goal of reduced emissions.

In fact, the Southeast is one of the regions of the country that will see the most benefit from this proposal.

As you can see, there's tremendous interest in this subject and the need for extended hearings...

It is important that we examine the details of a national renewable portfolio standard.

The Congress has the ability, as we have shown every year since I have been in the U.S. Senate... if there was a shortfall they stepped in with some type of supplemental funds.

Congress can, tomorrow, determine that we are going to do an advance budget for VA, and we have the power to do that.