John Thune

I want to compliment you on the good judgment you exercised during the BRAC process.

I think the whole focus of this debate has got to be how do we figure out the right way, the balanced way to constrain some of the risk.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding today's hearing on the important highway safety issue of Distracted Driving.

Let me begin by commending Secretary LaHood for holding the recent summit on distracted driving.

But accident statistics show it is time to stop multi-tasking and time to give complete attention to our driving.

I think perhaps one of the biggest issues and challenges we have to deal with is just public complacency.

We've done, I think, a good job of that.

I would appreciate any steps you can take to make sure that that situation doesn't happen again.

I was alarmed by the treatment that a number of veterans from South Dakota received when they traveled to our Nation's capital.

There are ongoing changing terrorist threats that we have to react to.

It is an important one, and one that Congress does have to deal with this year.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank our panelists for shedding some light on this subject.

Congratulations to you on your historic accomplishment, first woman and first Arkansan as the chairman of this great Committee.

I have the highest respect for the work FMCSA and the State inspectors do to protect the safety of South Dakota drivers.

It has been very helpful, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate this. Thank you for calling the hearing.

How soon will we be competitive making biomass into electricity?

I think we have to debunk and dispel that out there.

One of the probably biggest opponents of biofuels has been the livestock industry.

I really think that we are going to be moving more and more to electric vehicles in this country.

What I am concerned about is seeing the reduction, significant reduction in CRP acreage in our State.

I think the point I would make is we are going to need both, and we have the potential to release all of our foreign oil requirements and produce all of our liquid transportation fuels from corn and cellulose.

But would not EPA be factoring that in too?

I cannot see any relationship between what we do here in Iowa versus what happens in Brazil.

Is there, to your knowledge, any scientifically sound way to measure U.S. ethanol production's impact on land use decisions that are made in countries like Brazil?

So, if you went to an E-15 in a filling station, would the small engine users that come in to get fuel for their lawnmowers or whatever, because that has been one of the arguments that has been raised, that that would be a problem, would…