Frank Pallone

Congress must provide ongoing support in the aftermath of these hurricanes to restore and rebuild.

Our Nation is now experiencing historic levels of destruction and loss in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

I hope that this hearing is the first of many hurricane-related hearings, as Congress needs to hear further from HHS and other agencies.

Today's hearing is about the policies of foreign governments that affect the free flow of information across national boundaries.

In Congressman Schakowsky's district, we have Paylocity, which helps manage software on the web for international clients to handle HR, payroll, and more.

And an issue that I know Congresswoman Dingell knows well, the next advances in car safety technology will rely on access to data.

I want to recognize Vice Chairman Harper as one of the cosponsors of that bill as well as full committee Chairman Walden.

I am not sure he fully grasps that fact because he seems to be talking about Puerto Rico as if it were some foreign country.

The second question I have, and I have to go through this quickly, is that many--it goes to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking--many companies have been retiring or others proposing retirements of their coal and nuclear fleets simply…

I believe it is our responsibility to fully help the people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as they work to repair their damaged electricity grid.

Under the guise of a crisis of grid reliability, this proposal props up coal and nuclear generation.

The substance of that proposal has serious flaws, in my opinion.

The DOE's own grid report issued earlier this year stated that electricity markets, 'currently function as designed to ensure reliability and minimize the short-term costs of wholesale electricity.'

I have been impressed with the responses the committee has received with its inquiries about how covered entities use the 340B Program and it appears that recipients rely on program savings to provide important services to vulnerable…

Twenty-five years ago, Congress passed bipartisan legislation establishing the 340B Program to help healthcare providers expand their capacity to serve their patients.

Well, you know, that is in my district, so I appreciate your commenting on it.

Some utilities are getting close to 12 percent return on these projects, which, in this economy, is a bit crazy.

I think greater scrutiny needs to be made, and they need to go revisit their prior decisions on a regular basis to make sure that we are only building the transmission that is actually needed.

A recent report commissioned by American Municipal Power states that more than half of the $24.3 billion in transmission projects in PJM in 2012 were unneeded to comply with the RTO or Federal reliability requirements and were not subject…

This proposal is not about regulation and markets, which is what the Federal Power Act tasked FERC with.

I recognize that we're dealing with very complicated markets and the average consumer is going to leave it to you.

Thank you for your kind words and for everything you do for New Jersey's consumers.

I urge FERC to reject this proposal and hope that all my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, will join me in helping move our policies forward toward a more resilient, reliable, and cost effective grid that benefits all consumer…

Worse still, this is a proposal that is not supported by the facts or even by the Secretary's own grid reliability report.

His proposal is not about regulation and markets--which is what the Federal Power Act tasks FERC with--it's about subsidizing certain players in the electricity market.