We believe that encouraging voluntary cooperation with the private sector is the way to go.

We understand extremely well the threats that we face.

it is not uncommon for me when I am at home in Oklahoma to have a mom approach me at a townhall meeting or in conversations or even at a store or restaurant. What she will want to talk to me about is very interesting. Almost always the…

It is a very strategic move that is happening, and it is extremely aggressive and seems to be accelerating.

We will follow up on this. I will share some individual examples with you and maybe we can work through this.

I do appreciate the cooperation of the Committee in passing the bill to remove the Federal constraints that prevent the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma from freely buying and selling land they own but do not hold in trust.

That is a great asset to them for economic development and allows them to be able to diversify their tribe and also expand without the outdated, burdensome, antiquated belief that tribes need the Federal Government to give them permission…

I guess the question is, given the transition out of D.C. into tribal leadership, they are able to make more of those decisions, how do you feel that is moving at this point?

It is essential that we work together to address the challenges facing our tribes.

reserving the right to object, I do object to this bill moving forward by unanimous consent today. The issue is that this bill needs reform. I enjoy our national parks. My children enjoy our national parks. Twenty-nine percent of the…

I also wish to speak to the issue of the objection on this, the Land and Water Conservation Fund. Twenty-nine percent of all the land in the United States is already under Federal ownership. Let me clarify. This is not Federal control…

That is the fixable moment that we have to find a way to be able to add leverage basically to Congress.

I am one of those folks that believes we have the greatest educational system for higher education in the world.

I would tell you, the State of Oklahoma years ago invested at a very high level in our career and vocational education.

The challenge that I hear over and over again from institutions of higher education is they have a tremendous number of guidance documents that are coming to them.

So it looks like we are pushing in the wrong area.

The hope is that this can be an ongoing dialog, because they feel like the 'Dear Colleague' letter shows up, and they did not have input.

one of the worst things that we can do is to get increased Federal involvement to something that is going well.

Thank you, Mr. Secretary, thank you as well for being here.

If the goal is to be able to provide that student the opportunity to be able to get a degree, maybe $5,000, $6,000 for a college degree they can do mostly online with high-level classes.

the problem is, at the end of it, leftover funds need to be returned to the taxpayer and to what is happening in debt reduction rather than spent on flower pots.

Unfortunately, Congress has suggested zeroing out that program. We think that that would be a tragedy.

I think that is crazy.

We need to be sure that we are holding institutions accountable to giving people the education that they need to make a living and pay back those loans.

I know it is there. What are the ideas on how to actually fix that?