If you want to talk about costing tens of thousands of direct and indirect coal jobs, and causing electricity rates to go higher, then we should go forward with that goal.

I want to thank the panel for being here today, and you are now excused.

As this Subcommittee made clear to the VA in its invitation to this hearing, we are examining the proposed clinic in Savannah as a case study for the rest of the country.

We have evidence of similar dubious practices taking place at other locations, and our intent is to have the VA fix the problems and conduct necessary oversight at all of its construction sites.

I too hope that we could get to that point, and I hope that we can move forward together to solve these problems and others.

The issues discussed here today were yet another example of this Committee's efforts to reach out to the VA with founded concerns in an attempt to quickly and easily resolve them.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today.

The average job through the Port of Miami with a high school education is approaching $56,000 a year.

Believe me, I cannot emphasize enough that safety is the cruise industry's number one priority.

Last year, PortMiami generated over $18 billion, direct and indirect, to the economy of our community.

I appreciate, first of all, my colleague from South Carolina for offering H.R. 3783, the Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012.

Here's the sign at a gas station at the corner of Pike Street and I 77 in Marietta, Ohio: $3.69 for a gallon of unleaded regular. It's one example of surging gas prices across southeastern Ohio. When President Obama took office, the price…

A letter submitted for the record by the Independent Petroleum Association of America follows:

Increasing taxes on American families and businesses is not the solution, and simply freezing and holding the line on spending is not enough.

This cost the American taxpayers millions of dollars. And this, to me and the American taxpayer, is simply unacceptable.

I assume that it is also safe to say that you don't support lying or asking someone to lie for you, as well.

Mr. Secretary, do you support Federal officials threatening hard-working businesses and individuals for following the compliance mandates of legally binding government contracts?

Increasing taxes on energy production is misguided policy that will increase energy costs.

The Department's lack of fully cooperating with this Committee's document requests regarding their conduct of this regulatory rewrite.

So that means that Director Pizarchik or someone else at OSM asked the contractors to lie and change the baseline coal production level to show fewer job losses, and that you or no one else was involved.

This is an egregious situation here. It has tremendous impacts, not only on my district, but the coal industry across this nation.

I don't want a filibuster here, Mr. Secretary, because we got a lot to cover.

Did you, anyone from your office, the White House, or anyone else in a position of authority at the Department, direct OSM employees to ask the contractors to change assumptions on the economic analysis to address the job numbers in the…

The Administration's plan effectively reinstates the drilling moratoria that were lifted in 2008 by Congress and the President.

We should not be increasing spending for land acquisition when the government cannot maintain the land it already owns.