Joe Barton: “The economy is still struggling, although it is somewhat better, this Congress is facing some of the most difficult…”

I can't tell you how excited I am to have this hearing. It's really exciting for me.

I am a little bit skeptical if we are doing this simply because we don't like natural gas power, we don't like coal power, we don't like nuclear power, because that would be an added cost that somebody's got to bear.

I want to thank Congressman Rush for working with me as one of the two lead bipartisan sponsors.

I don't want to speak for the Department of Energy, but the draft legislation allows, without going through the appropriation process, funds generated by using this facility for private purposes to be used for maintenance of the facility.