Is there any real reason to do that other than that is the way we have always done it?

If our deadlines are too strict maybe we need to expand them a little bit.

Well, a million years puts it beyond my tenure in this Congress. I mean, we are----

I think the political opposition will occur if not in the host community, in the surrounding host communities and the transportation routes no matter where we put it.

For the first time, it will allow interim to have a chance to be certified as we look at the permanent repository.

In 1982, I was a White House fellow in the Department of Energy, and I played a very minor, minor role in the drafting of what we now call the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.

The staff brief--the majority staff brief for this hearing says that the Yucca Mountain site has passed all technical and safety reviews and has been found safe to store high-level nuclear waste for a million years. Is that correct?

I am a proud graduate of Texas A&M which didn't make anything this year.

Right. Well, I can't say that we are a total level playing field, there are people on these panels that disagree with that statement.

Mr. Speaker, I supported this bill when it came out of the Energy and Commerce Committee 2 or 3 weeks ago, and I want to thank Chairman Walden for his excellent leadership. As he knows, I had some concerns about the bill at the time. I…

Mr. Speaker, we always want to score a touchdown. Sometimes we take a field goal. What we don't want to do today is take a safety. Vote for this bill. Let's send it to the other body and continue to work to improve it. It is a good bill…