Let me just ask a final question. This has implications for, if you will, triage and the distribution of vaccines should it be in short supply.

I find it unconscionable that the brave men and women putting their lives on the line to protect our freedom could be charged an early termination fee when deployment, not choice, necessitates the cancelation of these contracts and leases.

These are protections that have been identified by our veterans to make their transition into combat or a new station that much easier.

Mr. Connolly's H.R. 2874, allowing for relief of tuition for servicemembers called to active service during one of their postsecondary semesters is a vital protection to the student veterans.

the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act of 2009...includes a provision to authorize up to $1.5 billion in Federal cost-share funds for local government stormwater management efforts.

We want an action plan, we want a watershed management action plan.

Thank you, Representative Edwards, Chairman Johnson, Ranking Member Boozman, and Members of the Subcommittee for allowing me to testify on behalf of COG today.

I believe that any short-term steps must be taken in the context of consideration of the long-term business model for the Postal Service.

Should there be some concern that, with the best of intentions, some of the cost-cutting measures being contemplated or undertaken could prove to be counterproductive?

I just don't want to see us, by default, allow the economic forces to define what the Postal Service will look like in the future.

I may be a freshman but the light has stayed on red.

I will never forget on a trip to Darfur meeting with a Major Ajumbo who was with the AU, he was also in the Balkans, and he said our rules of engagements here are very similar in terms of protection as they were in the Balkans.

There is much to be done to strengthen U.N. peacekeeping, and that has been, as you know, the theme we have been discussing and its various aspects most of the morning.

We will not sit idly by until the blue helmet is restored.

For 61 years, they have served our interest, and you have laid it out pretty well in your testimony all the various aspects of that.

Jane Holl Lute, who is now back in the administration, was the U.N. Assistant Secretary General for mission support, she was outraged as were others in the U.N.

We need to match supply with demand, and we have talked about that as well today.

This is an issue that has come out of the regional delegation's examination of the tragedy of June 22nd, this anomaly in Federal regulation where we do regulate for hard railcars on railroad systems, but not for transit.

So the users are, in fact, certainly paying their fair share.

And is it also true, to your knowledge, that there is no Federal standard in terms of crashworthiness and safety of passengers on transit systems; there is for rail systems like Amtrak, but there is not for transit?

I believe that if Congress acts to finalize the $150 million for fiscal year 2010, that D.C., Maryland, and the Commonwealth of Virginia will all find the matching funds to bring together $300 million annually for each of the next 10 years.

This is the Nation's Capital. It's arguably been called the capital of the free world. And the Federal Government has some responsibility, beyond the initial construction costs, to help make sure that system remains healthy and safe.

Without Tom's visions, this Congress would never have come up with the idea of a $150 million matching grant.

we also need to have the active commitment of President Barack Obama and his administration to find emergency stimulus dollars for immediate assistance with these infrastructure issues.

It is a great privilege for me to sit up here and welcome back to this committee our distinguished former chairman, Tom Davis.