Jack Reed

Secretary Salazar was strongly supportive. And I urge you to be as enthusiastic.

The Supreme Court has not once, but twice, told the Government what to do: honor our contracts.

The fact is, IHS cannot do this work. All we ask is to be treated fairly, just like other contractors.

We are optimistic that she will bring this unifying approach to the other Washington.

The answer to those rulings is not to change the law. The answer is to honor the contracts.

We appreciate the steps BLM has already taken to reform the Wild Horse and Burro Program.

Thank you very much, Senator Tester.

I think it's a better approach.

Another proposal is the Integrated Resource Restoration Program.

We're going to focus on doing the pilot work and then be able to come in here 2 to 3 years from now and make a strong case as to why this is a better approach.

We're probably going to meet or exceed last year's very expensive fire operation.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Are you confident that you'll have these aircraft under contract and useful this fire season?

I think we all support land acquisition.

Well, thank you very much, Chief. You've made many proposals, and let me discuss one of them.

We have to come up with a mechanism.

The solution really here is to do what the Ramah decision laid out, which is to pay the tribes the full amount of their contract support costs.

I think this is strong bipartisan support over the years for the LWCF. We're fully funding it, et cetera.

If we want the next generation to be custodians of the environment and not just in certain areas, but throughout this country, we have to expose them to environmental education and issues.

I think we could drive collaboratively.

Without...healthy dialog within the Congress and the administration, we're not going to be as effective as we should be.

Well, you make another excellent point, which is, there's, going forward, a capacity issue, because as you lose these very valuable, very experienced personnel...

When we do these investments, they actually generate economic activity, provide jobs, leverage the economy forward.

I am sure that the consultation right now, or I guess it's not really consultation if it's after the fact, but I'm sure it's difficult.

This is one aspect of youth programs in the budget.