ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR 2008

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2007.

FUTURE OF THE NATION'S NAVIGATION

INFRASTRUCTURE

WITNESS

JAMES H. I. WEAKLEY, PRESIDENT

CHAIRMAN VISCLOSKY'S OPENING STATEMENT

Mr. VISCLOSKY [presiding]. Good morning.

Today's hearing on the current status and future of the nation's navigation infrastructure is the first of two hearings the subcommittee will have to set the stage for traditional budget hearings.

It is also my first hearing as chair and I look forward to continuing the good work of my friend, Dave Hobson, which he has so ably done over the last 4 years as chairman of this subcommittee.

The subcommittee has six new members, one of who is with us this morning, and that is Ms. Granger of Texas. A little known fact is that Ms. Granger has attempted futilely to try to teach me how to play cards. You can ask her after the hearing about that particular aborted episode. But I certainly displayed a great amount of ignorance in a losing effort. I appreciate the lesson, Kay.

We also have joining the subcommittee this year Mr. Fattah from Pennsylvania, Mr. Israel from New York, Mr. Ryan from Ohio, Mr. Serrano from the great state of New York as well, and Mr. Ölver from Massachusetts.

It is good to have all of the members with us.

I would also note, and I think it is very important to note, that the subcommittee has retained for all practical purposes the same staff that we had in place during the 109th Congress and, certainly, again think it is indicative of the tenure of Mr. Hobson as well as the professionalism of those who have served us so ably that we all remain intact and I think that inures to the benefit of good government generally throughout the federal agencies.

We have with us as clerk of the committee Dixon Butler and Kevin Cook, who served as clerk last year. Kevin is with us. You can raise hands, too. Kevin also, although the gentleman is not with us, has a second colleague who will be of assistance to the subcommittee, and that is Ben Nicholson, and so we would also welcome Ben to the staff as well.

Scott Burnison remains with us and we are very pleased about that. Terry Tyborowski remains with us, and again all of the staff has done just a terrific job. Taunja Berquam also continues with us, and has taken the lead on today's hearing from a staffing perspective and I would point out that Taunja has also served all of us in Iraq as a member of the Army Corps of Engineers. We do have two new additions to the staff. On the permanent staff we have Lori Maes who is new to us and, Lori, I just appreciate that you are with the subcommittee as well. And we also have Chris Frabotta who is with us as the detailee from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Several things that you need to know about Chris: Most importantly is that he has served, again, all of us in our country twice in Iraq. And we are very pleased to have him with us.

Not wanting to digress too much because we do have business, but I would take the liberty of pointing out that apparently there is some conspiracy at work that I am not in control of. That is, to be a detailee on this subcommittee, you first of all have to be Italian. Secondly, you have to be a graduate of a university that can beat Notre Dame in football. Last year, Tony DiGiovanni, who many of you dealt with, was a graduate of the University of Michigan.

And Chris, we should all congratulate you on the Gators winning the National Championship. So we are happy to have Chris with

us.

Before we begin, and I have a statement and I know Mr. Hobson does and also that Dave will be going to the Defense Committee that we both also serve on, I just would want to point out that it was an extreme pleasure to serve as ranking member of the subcommittee over the last 4 years with Mr. Hobson. He was always kind enough from day one to refer to me as his partner. From day one, I would refer to him as my partner as we proceed.

The initiatives that have been undertaken over the last 4 years were undertaken in concurrence with the minority. I continue to support them. We want to work in pursuing them so that they do not stop and, hopefully, over the period of time in the 110th Congress we can initiate some new ones together.

I have described on other occasions, but I would do it again today at our first meeting, that Mr. Hobson certainly represents the gold standard of how members of Congress should conduct themselves, particularly as chairs, exercising leadership but also being very inclusive.

On a personal side, I would point out that there are few people in this world that I would characterize as someone that, if something happened to me later today, I would feel very comfortable if my two sons found themselves in his charge, that you know they would grow up with great moral character and be gentlemen throughout their lives. I just can't say enough about Dave Hobson. And with that, because, Mr. Hobson, you are with us, you are still a member of Congress and who knows what the future holds 2 years from now, we didn't know quite what, that is the staff and all of the members, what we should do as far as a presentation. And then a good thought struck, and so we do have just a brief

Mr. HOBSON. Wow, it is even signed.

[Applause.]

Mr. VISCLOSKY. The inscription reads, "Congratulations on four winning seasons on Energy and Water. Go Bucks. Jim Trusler."

Now one other thing, Mr. Hobson, if I could borrow that for one more second, you will notice these marijuana leaves on the side of the helmet and, again, as a Notre Dame man, I have always kind of wondered why they put marijuana leaves on the side, and someone told me it is a recent development, when Maurice Clarret played there.

But the fact is, it was pointed out to me by Mr. Burnison of our staff that each one of these marijuana leaves distinguishes an earmark.

MR. HOBSON'S OPENING REMARKS

Mr. HOBSON. Let me be the first to say thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, thank you for those very kind words and thank you for this helmet.

I once said to one of my friends, "What is the biggest cash crop in your county?" And he said, "Marijuana." In parts of Ohio, that is probably still true. Certainly in West Virginia it is, too. My business partner is from West Virginia.

But this is really neat. Thank you very much, it is really sharp. I wanted to say that this truly has been a partnership. I didn't know anything about this committee when I walked in a little over 4 years ago now. Pete and I were on the same committee, but we didn't really know each other that well. And as a result of that, we have come to know each other much better on both committees, and I certainly believe there is some mutual respect.

And we have tried to work together, the staffs have worked together, both his office staff and our office staff. And I sent Kenny over to the IED hearing today, but Kenny has been a big part of that also. He is sitting back there now, I thought he left.

I think it is good for this country when committees do work together and I am sure that is going to continue. I am going to have to learn how to conduct myself appropriately and I notice John Olver, who was my ranking member when we did MilCon together a number of years ago, is here on this committee now, too. So this is kind of friends getting together, because John and I still wear the same ties-I noticed last night-we did today. I noticed John spoke before I did on the floor last night and coincidentally we both had the same or similar ties on then.

But this is, you know, a great committee. It is a great staff. We have a great chairman. I have a couple of gifts for him, too. Not probably as neat as his are to me, but this first gift is some duct tape, and there is a little inscription on here. It says, "Apply as needed. Especially useful for long-winded witnesses, uppity staff and talkative former chairman."

The second one, and I have one of these too, use this when all else fails. [Laughter.]

Mr. Chairman, I wish you well and I just have a short statement that I would like to make, if you don't mind.

Scott Burnison remains with us and we are very pleased about that. Terry Tyborowski remains with us, and again all of the staff has done just a terrific job. Taunja Berquam also continues with us, and has taken the lead on today's hearing from a staffing perspective and I would point out that Taunja has also served all of us in Iraq as a member of the Army Corps of Engineers.

We do have two new additions to the staff. On the permanent staff we have Lori Maes who is new to us and, Lori, I just appreciate that you are with the subcommittee as well. And we also have Chris Frabotta who is with us as the detailee from the Army Corps of Engineers.

Several things that you need to know about Chris: Most importantly is that he has served, again, all of us in our country twice in Iraq. And we are very pleased to have him with us.

Not wanting to digress too much because we do have business, but I would take the liberty of pointing out that apparently there is some conspiracy at work that I am not in control of. That is, to be a detailee on this subcommittee, you first of all have to be Italian. Secondly, you have to be a graduate of a university that can beat Notre Dame in football. Last year, Tony DiGiovanni, who many of you dealt with, was a graduate of the University of Michi

gan.

And Chris, we should all congratulate you on the Gators winning the National Championship. So we are happy to have Chris with

us.

Before we begin, and I have a statement and I know Mr. Hobson does and also that Dave will be going to the Defense Committee that we both also serve on, I just would want to point out that it was an extreme pleasure to serve as ranking member of the subcommittee over the last 4 years with Mr. Hobson. He was always kind enough from day one to refer to me as his partner. From day one, I would refer to him as my partner as we proceed.

The initiatives that have been undertaken over the last 4 years were undertaken in concurrence with the minority. I continue to support them. We want to work in pursuing them so that they do not stop and, hopefully, over the period of time in the 110th Congress we can initiate some new ones together.

I have described on other occasions, but I would do it again today at our first meeting, that Mr. Hobson certainly represents the gold standard of how members of Congress should conduct themselves, particularly as chairs, exercising leadership but also being very inclusive.

On a personal side, I would point out that there are few people in this world that I would characterize as someone that, if something happened to me later today, I would feel very comfortable if my two sons found themselves in his charge, that you know they would grow up with great moral character and be gentlemen throughout their lives. I just can't say enough about Dave Hobson. And with that, because, Mr. Hobson, you are with us, you are still a member of Congress and who knows what the future holds 2 years from now, we didn't know quite what, that is the staff and all of the members, what we should do as far as a presentation. And then a good thought struck, and so we do have just a brief

Mr. HOBSON. Wow, it is even signed.

[Applause.]

Mr. VISCLOSKY. The inscription reads, "Congratulations on four winning seasons on Energy and Water. Go Bucks. Jim Trusler."

Now one other thing, Mr. Hobson, if I could borrow that for one more second, you will notice these marijuana leaves on the side of the helmet and, again, as a Notre Dame man, I have always kind of wondered why they put marijuana leaves on the side, and someone told me it is a recent development, when Maurice Clarret played there.

But the fact is, it was pointed out to me by Mr. Burnison of our staff that each one of these marijuana leaves distinguishes an earmark.

MR. HOBSON'S OPENING REMARKS

Mr. HOBSON. Let me be the first to say thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, thank you for those very kind words and thank you for this helmet.

I once said to one of my friends, "What is the biggest cash crop in your county?" And he said, "Marijuana." In parts of Ohio, that is probably still true. Certainly in West Virginia it is, too. My business partner is from West Virginia.

But this is really neat. Thank you very much, it is really sharp. I wanted to say that this truly has been a partnership. I didn't know anything about this committee when I walked in a little over 4 years ago now. Pete and I were on the same committee, but we didn't really know each other that well. And as a result of that, we have come to know each other much better on both committees, and I certainly believe there is some mutual respect.

And we have tried to work together, the staffs have worked together, both his office staff and our office staff. And I sent Kenny over to the IED hearing today, but Kenny has been a big part of that also. He is sitting back there now, I thought he left.

I think it is good for this country when committees do work together and I am sure that is going to continue. I am going to have to learn how to conduct myself appropriately and I notice John Olver, who was my ranking member when we did MilCon together a number of years ago, is here on this committee now, too. So this is kind of friends getting together, because John and I still wear the same ties-I noticed last night-we did today. I noticed John spoke before I did on the floor last night and coincidentally we both had the same or similar ties on then.

But this is, you know, a great committee. It is a great staff. We have a great chairman. I have a couple of gifts for him, too. Not probably as neat as his are to me, but this first gift is some duct tape, and there is a little inscription on here. It says, “Apply as needed. Especially useful for long-winded witnesses, uppity staff and talkative former chairman.”

The second one, and I have one of these too, use this when all else fails. [Laughter.]

Mr. Chairman, I wish you well and I just have a short statement that I would like to make, if you don't mind.