Joseph T. Burns: “my good friend from North Dakota is running a little late. I will make my opening statement this morning, we will get…”

“my good friend from North Dakota is running a little late. I will make my opening statement this morning, we will get his remarks, and then we will start moving. We are sort of conflicted this morning, as the Chair understands, but we will work our way through in accepting for consideration the amendments that will be offered to this appropriations bill. Today we begin consideration of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which was reported unanimously by the Appropriations Committee on June 9. I appreciate the efforts of the two leaders to get this bill to the floor before the recess, in the hope that we can get a few appropriations bills to the President's desk before the August recess. The bill before the Senate combines funding for the traditional Interior bill agencies with funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and other related agencies that were previously funded in the VA-HUD bill. Having these new agencies under our jurisdiction has been a real learning experience for me, and a real challenge in some areas. The EPA is an agency with a very broad reach. It administers, in cooperation with states and tribes, a long list of environmental statutes including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, Superfund, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and FIFRA, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.…”