wildlife trafficking is the fourth biggest organized criminal activity in the world, and it is linked to organized crime syndicates, terrorists, and insurgent groups.

this is the most necessary oversight responsibility the Science Committee has is to keep American science strong.

There's an old political idiom that nothing happens in politics unless you tell somebody about it.

critical infrastructure indispensable to the Nation's access and use of space

My concern is that the intent may be good, but the effect of that may prevent those, especially from diverse parts of our Nation, from coming to our parks.

I am really concerned about the tripling of fees at a number of parks like Shenandoah National Park during peak season for two reasons.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks all of you for being here.

We should be very careful before we argue that we should gut NEPA.

We don't need two new pipelines. The demand isn't there.

The FERC approval process was widely considered a rubber stamp.

As the--I have four sisters and three daughters, and so this is a very important issue at home.

26 percent--that is how much Trump and Pruitt want to cut the EPA's budget, a starved agency cut again by a full one-quarter. That is massive cuts of staff, massive cuts to our health and safety, massive cuts to the EPA's ability to do its…

Number one, President Trump told us that Mexico would pay for the wall. Number two, Mr. Trump ended protection for Dreamers. Number three, now President Trump is insisting that we agree on his plan to limit immigration or else.

I think the American public is being spun, confused, misled by the President and Republican congressional leadership, so let me set the record straight.

In his Fiscal Year 2019 budget we just got the other day, it has an $18 billion request for building the border wall across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Congratulations on your new chairmanship----

As a nation, I believe that all of us want to ensure that these blockchain-based technologies are used appropriately.

This really is incredibly important. I just came back from the World Economic Forum where it seemed like every other forum was about blockchain technology.

This is a very fun committee to be on because we're dealing with so many things that are absolute.

I believe the Science Committee can play an important oversight role in providing a public forum to address these and many other issues.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to first begin and ask unanimous consent to introduce a letter from Congressman Polis for the record.

It's a fascinating topic. I've been asking everyone I know in the last week to explain blockchain technology to me. No one can.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 58 and ``nay'' on rollcall No. 59. ____________________

Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 53, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 54, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 55, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 56, and ``nay'' on rollcall No. 57. ____________________

I'm inclined to think that Secretary Moniz was much closer to the intent of the law than what the Department is doing now.