Don Beyer

I just want to begin with a simple statement that I love hydropower. As someone who thinks that all the science in climate change is real, developing hydropower is very important for us.

What cannot be ignored, though, is the significant negative impacts the bill could have on endangered salmon and steelhead.

The sponsor, Representative McMorris Rodgers, and I do agree that dams and fish can co-exist.

We should work toward achieving a better balance between multiple uses on our rivers, including removal of low-value dams to aid salmon recovery.

I respectfully advise my colleagues to collaborate with our Federal agencies, who are the experts in the field, rather than rushing through partisan legislation.

H.R. 3916 would also reduce Interior's already strained budget and capacity to manage and recover endangered fish.

This debate is not about dams versus no dams. The debate is about striking the appropriate balance between things like responsible hydropower development and sound fisheries protection.

Unfortunately, H.R. 3144 takes us in the wrong direction by blocking science-based fisheries management.

Taking these options off the table before we even study the costs and benefits is misguided.

The advanced technologies being developed and pioneering research being conducted at NIST makes security of its facilities and technologies critically important.

Rebuilding Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria will be a Herculean effort.

I stand here also to express my strong support for the Amash amendment. Civil asset forfeiture without limits presents one of the strongest threats to our civil, property, and constitutional rights. It creates a reverse incentive for law…

To respond to both my friends from South Carolina, one of the dilemmas with the additional exploration is that, by law, the data obtained from the seismic surveys are proprietary. They will belong to the many different companies that will…

I urge my colleagues to support the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 135, strike lines 1 through 23. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 504, the gentleman from…

I thank the perspective of the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on this. I think our clear understanding is that the exemptions, as currently written, allow for all normal farming, ranching, forestry activities, and that the…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Page 134, strike lines 17 through 25. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House Resolution 504, the gentleman…

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much, and thank you all for the testimonies. It's very interesting.

So it really disheartens me that the Science Committee is not investigating important scientific issues that have a real world impact on the health and safety of our citizens across the country.

I fear this isn't a hearing about oversight.

I demand a recorded vote. The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule XVIII, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Virginia will be postponed. Amendment No. 4 Offered by Mr. Polis The Acting CHAIR. It is now…

I have an amendment at the desk. The Acting CHAIR. The Clerk will designate the amendment. The text of the amendment is as follows: Strike subsection (h) of section 3 (relating to exceptional events). The Acting CHAIR. Pursuant to House…

The Budget Committee is meeting right now down the hall. And in the Administration's budget, NOAA Fisheries was proposed to be cut by 5 percent.

Federal Indian policy involves an arcane mix of law and history of which few members of the Subcommittee, much less most other Members of the 115th Congress, are fully conversant regarding many of the details that have potentially…

I oppose the Secretary and the President's reopening of the 5-year plan.