Rob Portman

I just met with a bunch of manufacturers and they were talking about some of these agencies that have these acronyms like SEC and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and others.

It is tougher to get investment here because investors are looking around the globe, and they look at America and they say, gosh, it is going to take 4 or 5 years to get this energy project up and going.

I would ask for your sustained focus on that as we try to get across the finish line.

We hope you will work with us on that, too. That is a bill that Senator McCaskill and I have that is a common sense bill that would get at this permitting issue.

Thank you all for your service and your willingness to... ensure that people are taken care of.

I commend my colleague from Alaska, who is the ranking member, and thank her for her hard work. She mentioned the energy efficiency bill. I know she strongly supports that bill, and I hope it will come back to the floor. It is a more…

I also agree with what Senator Johnson said earlier about how the Internet has really thrived without the heavy hand of government.

If we do not figure out a way to reform this incredibly important but unsustainable program, we will have a difficult time ever getting our fiscal house in order.

I hope you will continue to have that attitude at HHS.

As a cosponsor of this legislation, I applaud my colleagues who are here tonight. I think this is the right message to send. It is a sensitive time, so therefore we need to stand and be counted. I hope the House will act swiftly on this…

This all just cries out for reform, and if we do not do that, we are going to continue to see an erosion of U.S. jobs.

So we are talking about U.S. jobs here being supported by U.S. companies having access to foreign markets.

I think that is very likely. In fact, you would see a lot of repatriation, wouldn't you, of the nearly $2 trillion that is now tied up overseas?

U.S. companies are competing globally at a disadvantage given that we have a relatively high rate.

We are having to not just compete head to head, but we are shrinking as American companies, relative to the size we should be, because of our tax code.

Since 1980s, isn't it true that every other one of our competitors around the world--all the other countries have reformed their codes. Every one of them has, except us.

The problem here is not Caterpillar. It is a broken tax code.

We all believe, as Senator King had said, that regulation is necessary, an important function of government.

This is legislation that is bipartisan, Senator Claire McCaskill and others, streamlines and improves the Federal permitting process.

I appreciate your being here. You probably have the most important job in Washington that nobody knows about.

We do not address the big issue, which is mandatory spending.

The mandatory side of the budget, which is the part we do not appropriate every year, is now two-thirds of the budget.

Health care entitlements are going to increase by about 115 percent, more than double.

Social Security Disability is depleted in 2017. The other two trust funds... will be depleted, and therefore bankrupt, within the lifetime of most people retiring today.

I am, obviously, disappointed we did not deal with the mandatory side, and I know we are going to have to as a body, on a bipartisan basis.