The Jobs Act was a very important effort to help small businesses that create two thirds of the jobs in this country.

How do you respond to those concerns?

During his recent testimony to the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, Commissioner Connor described a set of funding criteria for the Rural Water Program that are under development.

So, are there any amendments that you might suggest that would make this legislation address your concerns?

As I said to him, many of the, particularly the bills that we're going to be hearing today, affect the West much more than the East, so his perspective will be very important.

Although S. 201 specifies that Reclamation and the local water districts should have the responsibility for compliance with all environmental laws that are applicable, will Reclamation coordinate with the Forest Service if necessary during…

Well, I certainly agree with what you have said about the importance of reinforcing for Kosovo and Serbia and the other countries in the western Balkans that are looking at the potential for EU membership down the road, to see that as a…

So perhaps they could model what we need to do here.

Thank you both for being here, for your service, and we look forward to continuing to work with you.

I also want to address Ukraine because Freedom House just downgraded Ukraine from free to partly free and warned that the country is headed down a path toward autocracy and kleptocracy.

Europe remains America's indispensable partner. We need Europe and Europe needs us.

Last week, Senator Lindsay Graham and I introduced a resolution supporting the territorial integrity of Georgia and calling on the Government of Russia to fulfill its cease-fire agreement and return its military forces to prewar positions.