Unfortunately, those provisions were stripped out of the final bill by House Republicans.

I'm glad you're ahead of schedule. I'll be looking forward to monitoring your success.

I strongly support your efforts and the bipartisan efforts.

This independent authority is not going to come back to Congress and ask for additional funds, ever.

Mr. Chairman, I'm still waiting for the song.

I have never found a farmer or a rancher or a forest owner, or anyone else, that didn't truly love the land.

I would say also, in your particular job, you depend on landowners, on the private sector to provide a lot of the funding and a lot of the resources necessary to have that conservation.

Come to Oklahoma; you may find that is not the case.

Russia is very apt to use energy dependence and energy capabilities as one of the tools.

It's important we hold care providers accountable to the highest standards of excellence for our veterans.

I encourage swift passage of this important legislation.

There is no better group to give this contracting authority to than the regional VA directors who know firsthand the issues their medical facilities face.