Chris Stewart

Thank you, Chairman. And to other Members of the Committee, thanks for the opportunity to come and talk to you about a bill that I have been working on for nearly two years, H.R. 868, Veterans TRICARE Bill.

Like many of my colleagues, I am concerned by the great opioid epidemic that is sweeping our Nation. Every day more than 78 Americans die from opioid overdoses--78 Americans. Think about that. That is more than three every hour. Nearly 2…

The BLM just announced that it would significantly cut grazing allotments and possibly eliminate all cattle grazing on Federal lands in Elko, Nevada, to accommodate the overpopulation of wild horses. Many rural areas in my district are…

In the tumult of a Presidential election, a lot of important and newsworthy events don't get enough attention. One such event last week was the Czech Republic's release of Ali Fayyad, a dangerous Hezbollah terrorist who was indicted in…

I appreciate that approach, as does I think my State.

I think the breakdown in trust between just normal folks, just people, and the Federal Government is something that I think troubles all of us.

The magic of the parks is diminished when people feel like they spend half their day in a parking lot.

I think we have to find a way to do better than we have done at this, and not to give people the feeling the Federal Government is going to do what they are going to do regardless of how local people feel.

If we do not make some progress in helping these folks feel like they are not being ignored and, in fact, being abused by the Federal government, then we are going to have situations out there that just become worse.

I know a teacher in my district, and I come from a family of educators. And one county has actually had to declare an education emergency.

I would like to express some frustration to you if I could, and it is not directed at you. I am expressing this frustration to you on behalf of the people that I represent back home.

We want to work with you to protect it, but we just beg you, you know, to use those of us who live there and love it as a resource as we try to find some ways to do both.

We have got to find a way to defuse that. We have already seen the outcome of that, and it is not going to get better as long as they feel like the Federal government has a boot on the throat of these family ranches.

I think it is clear that you and I might see the world differently in many important respects, but I appreciate your sincerity.

I know a rancher in my district, and he came to me. This is a humble man. He is not a radical.

Our intent without any question is to maintain livestock grazing.

I know a coal miner back in a very rural, very poor district. There are two coal mines in Utah, well, in my district, very high-quality coal, clean coal.

On August 14, 2004, David Sneddon, a student at Brigham Young University, disappeared without explanation while hiking in the Yunnan province of southwest China. David is an outstanding young man who speaks fluent Korean and had spent the…

Yesterday the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus outbreak a global public health emergency. The virus is particularly dangerous to pregnant women as it has been linked to serious physical and neurological defects in their…

I also sit on the Intelligence Committee. Africa is my area of assigned responsibility.

Congress has considered withdrawing or withholding military aid to countries who we believe are not being our partner.

The presumption is that I am a Republican, therefore I hate the environment and I want to destroy it. I think that is absurd.

Thank you, Chairman. I wanted to just take this opportunity to thank Chairman Bishop, Chairman McClintock, Ranking Member Lowenthal, and other Members who have traveled here today.

If there are two words that describe the process, I would say those two words are 'broken trust.'

If you want to understand why so many people distrust the Federal Government, this is a good example of it.