I think we all agree that a continuing resolution, or government shutdown, would be a disaster.

Certainly, the idea that many folks do, it is appropriate for them to move into forest management work when they are not fighting fires.

It is an incredible national parks system, but it only works if we have people staffing it.

this is kind of a last ditch five alarm fire

I really salute the administration's commitment to those--to the four programs: So one is the dioxin cleanup, one is the disabilities with children, and a third is continuing the demining, and the fourth is the Wartime Accounting…

Thank you. And I know there has been a fair much amount of attention to the deaths, and the conditions, and it needs attention.

And for the first time, we provided $5 million specifically for FRIMA activities.

Amen to that. And I have a bill to change that, so Thank you, for drawing attention and spotlighting that issue.

Indeed, the budget request for fiscal year 2024 gives us another stark reminder that our forests are in peril, and that we need these investments.

we really have to push to map the acres around our most vulnerable towns, and how we thin and treat those forests even if they are more expensive per acre.

I am very pleased to see the proposal for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, or the Green Bank that EPA is starting to implement.

Thank you, Chairman Jeff Merkley, Ranking Member Lisa Murkowski, and Members of the subcommittee for your leadership to reduce pollution in rivers, improve clean water access, safeguard public drinking water supplies.

We can no longer view these villains as natural disasters, what they really are, are human-caused unnatural disasters.

It seems like that is at odds with bipartisan support for water infrastructure.

There are two routes to doing this. One is kind of a voluntary effort through the Xerces Society, but the other is for us to have a regulation that says you can label these plants pollinators safe if they have been raised in this manner.

I am quite pleased that we had that legislative achievement, and I hope the advance helps with the predictable and stable funding for years to come.

the DFC is doing exactly what we have to not do.

It is essential. People can't take jobs if they can't afford a place to live.

We have a lot of Tribes in both of our states, and a lot of work to be done on many fronts.

It is really quite stunning to think that in the very modest amount of time since Lewis and Clark came to the region, how many species that they saw have become endangered or extinct.

I hope the results of those meetings will be that these Tribes that haven't been able to participate in the program, will be able to get their feet on the ground, and get started.

The Budget is a historic step and the start of an ongoing conversation with Tribes.

the primary reason that I have been hearing, personally from firefighters, is the pay gap.

The world needs American leadership and to lead we have to have the power of our example.

It desperately needs those investments from the Department, and I will certainly be working with you towards that goal.