Paul Tonko

But simply put, this budget is not reflective of who we are and of our needs, and of our values that I hear about when I am home in New York.

But you're cutting the prevention program, and prevention treatment and recovery are all important.

Unfortunately, today you are here to defend what I believe is a mean budget that would take us backwards--backwards with this budget on opioids, backwards on mental health, and certainly backwards on providing affordable, high-quality…

So, Mr. Secretary, when we have 174 individuals a day dying of overdoses, what is more high need than continuing investments in proven substance abuse prevention strategies that are very much critical to the inclusive formula for success?

It cannot be said enough, but you simply can't put forward a legitimate proposal for addressing the opioid epidemic at the same time that you are proposing more than a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid.

Science is not about getting the results you want. Scientific integrity is about ensuring a process and atmosphere in which the science leads us to real, unvarnished results.

I want the United States to be the leader of the global clean energy economy.

If that is a serious concern for this Committee, then I implore us to take up H.R. 1358, which I've authored, the Scientific Integrity Act.

The work being done to research and develop advanced nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors, is incredibly important.

We have a duty to ensure that political interference of the scientific process and attacks on the work of federal scientists do not get in the way of our responsibility to safeguard our public health and our national security.

The Scientific Integrity Act restores our baseline for scientific independence by requiring every federal agency that funds or conducts scientific research to establish clear scientific integrity standards.

We need you to push really hard for the appropriate level of funding if we're going to continue forward with a bit of progress.

Currently, there is no comprehensive system that tracks where Federal dollars are going.

In the years following the Great Recession (2009-2012), 91 percent of all new wealth created accrued to the top one percent of earners. From 1980 through 2014, incomes for the wealthiest one percent of Americans rose by 204 percent while…

I hear from constituents across my district all the time on the need for broadband expansion.

I am proud to have worked on this legislation with Congressman Leonard Lance.

Let's have a discussion on what we can improve and let's move the bills forward.

Broadband internet access is often the difference between success and failure for students doing homework.

If funding is reduced, it would be a big blow, and these opportunities decrease.

However, the president's fiscal year 2018 budget request proposed a 30 percent cut to the program.

It is critical that we hear from the Agency's political leadership on this and other important issues.

People can accuse me of cynicism if they want but I do believe that this is a strategy for generating future press releases more than actually working toward remediating sites for the standard of protecting human health and our environment.

I really do believe a well-funded EPA is critical to get these cleanups done.

Superfund is critical to protecting Americans' health and the environment.

Unfortunately, everything we have seen from this administration has been contrary to that given goal.