Will the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force and Great Lakes Advisory Board be maintained?

I am sorry, but I do not find it humorous.

I would like to talk about sage grouse.

But in the end, we have the spending authority, so we will look at this.

It is important that the American citizens know that our price per kilowatt compared to Europe, compared to other nations, is very, very competitive.

I appreciate that, and we managed to insert funding for the GLRI of $300 million a year for 5 years.

Simply put, this work would not happen without Federal support, which has leveraged financial contributions from States, industries, and communities.

Will the cost-share approach to cleaning up contaminated sediments under the Great Lakes Legacy Act continue?

But I also take pride in the fact that the vote was 407 to 18, and not that I have those 18 names laminated.

I can assure you, you are going to be the first EPA administrator that has come before this committee in 8 years that actually gets more money than they ask for.

Simply put, the Mulvaney budget appears to largely remove the Federal government as a partner in our work to restore and manage the Great Lakes. Is that fair?

There has to be some type of, I do not care who the local authorities are.

It is game, set, match if they get in the Lakes.

I will tell you I am concerned.

I actually think defense has the priority, but there is no such relationship.

We can appreciate the fact that your Agency has provided leadership in what I think is the way government should work...

Lake Erie is very important and critical for drinking water, but it also supports commercial and sport fishing, to name only a few of the benefits.

The cuts in some of these Indian programs are just not acceptable.

I frankly take it as a personal offense that the Government of the United States... doesn't consider the Great Lakes and our urban areas important enough to focus on trees.

We do have coal mines that are opening up. We have got people going back to work to create a sense of hope and opportunity in their lives.

Isn't that what is used to make baseball bats?

Cities end up owning a large percentage of these properties and, therefore, have the responsibility of maintaining or demolishing them.

While I appreciate their directive in providing cohesive regional planning, it is important to me that we do not continue down a path of federalizing community planning.

I wish you Godspeed to that end.

It is hard to fathom that they push out a half trillion gallons of freshwater into the ocean every year because they can't contain it in the Everglades.