Derek Kilmer

The Federal Government has a trust responsibility to support Puget Sound recovery and uphold those treaty rights.

I am really grateful for your visit out to my neck of the woods last summer to tour the Quinault Indian Nation's Taholah Village Relocation Project, which is an effort to move that village to higher ground in response to increasing threats…

It is in everyone's best interest that the industry continues to survive in this country because it is one of the primary tools that we need to help us with this situation.

I am proud to say that we have actually executed a few pilot projects that would help the ONF produce a couple million additional board feet of timber.

I have consistently asked the Forest Service what can I do, what can this committee do to address the acute challenges at the Olympic National Forest.

I am tired of watching our rural economies that depend on Federal timber harvest struggle and folks lose their jobs.

We need your help to achieve these benefits, especially as rural communities throughout my district continue to take it on the chin.

I am grateful for the partnership with the regional forester, Glenn Casamassa, and the ONF supervisor, Kelly Lawrence, and her team.

We have got to do better.

I have heard, though, from tribal members about their desire to see additional investments in our tribal colleges and universities, too.

I have the honor of representing 12 tribes in Washington 6th Congressional District.

So my recommendation going forward would be to make targeted investments to make a difference, but also to recognize the scale of this crisis is beyond the public treasury.

The select committee's guiding principle is to make Congress work better for the American people.

Government data should be available to the American people because it belongs to them.

That is not the case. Actually, transparency and bipartisanship and cooperation, if done correctly, allows each party to build a communications plan that lets them advocate for their positions and to build that case for the public and…

I do think there is something to be considered regarding some kind of expedited floor consideration for legislation that meets certain criteria.

I do think part of the solution to that does go back to committee work and building--just building that muscle of legislating makes it less, I think, worrisome for both leadership and individual members about having to take tough votes and…

Instead of generating interesting debate and good ideas, hearings too often promote political posturing and sound bites for social media.

I think Congress should keep vital programs like DCIP on track.

All of them have legacy infrastructure dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries.

Listen, I am all for readiness, but we can't sacrifice the health of our servicemembers and veterans.

The fact that the two agencies have been stuck in limbo for over 2 years is simply unacceptable.

I have valued your partnership on the myriad of Corps regulatory issues we have worked on in the past.

I am proud that Washington State is already a leader in this effort.

I appreciate that the administration's 'skinny budget' called for quadrupling clean energy research over the next 4 years.