Frank Pallone

I want to thank the chairman for calling this hearing on EPA's Brownfields Program.

I fully intend to talk about brownfields when I go around the district tomorrow and over the weekend at our various Earth Day events.

However, as successful as the Brownfields Program has been, there is still so much important cleanup work to be done.

The Brownfields Program has been an incredibly important tool for protecting public health and spurring economic growth in New Jersey and throughout the country.

When we passed the original brownfields bill in the 107th Congress, I was the ranking member of the subcommittee and the lead Democrat on the legislation, which was one of the only pieces of environmental legislation that I can remember…

The policies outlined in H.R. 2 are the result of an open and transparent process which sought input...

It took two decades to replace the SGR because it was hard to do and it required a certain commitment...

But when you stop and think about what we accomplished with the overwhelmingly bipartisan passage of H.R. 2...

I think this is an important hearing and I thank the witnesses for being here today.

The communications of the future will neither be eclipsed in the darkness or illuminated without shadow.

I'm happy to work with Congress, with our partners in the private sector, with my law enforcement and national security counterparts, and with the people we serve, to find the right answer--to find the balance we need.

I welcome the opportunity to hear today from both law enforcement and the tech community as we seek to understand and develop solutions to this encryption debate.

When the tech community tells us that providing back doors will make their job of protecting our information that much more difficult, we should heed that warning and work towards a solution that will not solve one problem by creating many…

Law enforcement has a difficult job of keeping our nation safe, and they are finding that some encrypted devices and programs are hampering their efforts to conduct thorough investigations.

Encryption enables the privacy and security that we value, but it also creates challenges for those seeking to protect us.

I never cease to be amazed at how complex an issue this is and it requires balancing various competing values and societal goals.

I want to thank my colleague from California, the ranking member of our subcommittee. Mr. Chairman, today we are considering a deceptively simple bill, H.R. 2666. The bill states that the FCC may not regulate rates for broadband Internet…

I believe we should instead work to improve the law and ensure all of our constituents have access to the quality, affordable health care they deserve.

And these characterizations by the GOP are simply absurd.

I just find it ironic and hypocritical that this framework is acceptable for Medicare Part D, which was signed into law by a Republican President, but it is supposedly a taxpayer funded giveaway under a healthcare law from a Democratic…

Now my Republican colleagues on this committee have called these payments, quote, handouts to insurance companies, and I quote, taxpayer funded giveaways.

Absolutely no one is advocating for returning to the old system of rapidly rising costs, gross inefficiencies, and painful inequalities.

The law has been a historic success. It has achieved its goals and made access to comprehensive health care a reality.

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 20 million more Americans now know the security of health insurance.

H.R. 4775 introduces a dose of needed commonsense to EPA's ozone program.