Obviously if we have an area where we are not authorizing or allowing or transferring, we do not want it to be more expensive than actually maintaining it.

We have talked a couple of times before about the 2014 water bill that put into it a request to the Corps to say give us an inventory that is not needed--this was the quote--'not needed for the mission of the Corps of Engineers.'

we have witnessed in this administration Executive overreach with increasing boldness. One manifestation of Executive overreach is the shocking indifference with which departmental agencies spurn the congressionally mandated rulemaking…

So what I want to be able to evaluate is, before the money goes out the door, we have a set of evaluation metrics that we know about this grant.

If there are additional authorities that are needed on that, we just need to know

we should not make nuclear power a primary solution, or one of the primary solutions, to dealing with that problem

How do you track, at this point, research that would be done by the public sector and research that would be done only by us?

This is one of the areas I want us to provide more oversight as a committee to be able to ask just the basic questions.

If you are seeing something that is ongoing that the public sector is already doing and we can accelerate it?

Okay, so FERC first and then DOE, correct? So that has been a quick process. It has not been an issue?

solving the nuclear waste stalemate is something Senator Feinstein and I are dedicated to

That shelf right there? We had to raise by six inches and we got a fine for it.

Well, this is something, I am saying, perception and reality.

This is one of the areas that we want to examine.

there has been a culture change from one of compliance assistance to one of scaring people into compliance

if it takes all day, we will stay until we find a violation

We are trying to figure out who sets that, who guides that, where does that money go.

As far as, do you feel an obligation coming at you either legislatively or from a guidance that if there is a violation, that is a fine?

I do want to maintain this conversation. What we would ask of you is I am sure that there are ideas that you or your entities would be interested to be able to share ways they can improve this process.

more stick than carrot

That will be one that we want to watch, to be able to see how that works, because that gives a clear set of guidelines out there that people can find and note and to be able to help self-manage.

But, some are concerned that they should not because they are, for whatever reason--what I am telling you is, it is a good program----

This Subcommittee will also hold a hearing examining the burden of Federal statutes and regulations placed on State and local governments.

We hope to be able to put products out in the days ahead to say, let us help fix some of the broken relationships that we have there.

As a result, my constituents tell me that their relationship with agencies have deteriorated and that instead of inspectors working with businesses to identify and solve compliance problems, government regulators show up, issue a fine and…