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96–026 PDF 2015

S. HRG. 113–741 

HEARING ON THE NOMINATIONS OF RHEA 

SUN SUH TO BE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR 

FISH AND WILDLIFE AND PARKS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR; VICTORIA 

BAECHER WASSMER TO BE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA); ROY K.J. WILLIAMS 

TO BE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, U.S. 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE; AND THOMAS 

A. BURKE TO BE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, EPA 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON 

ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

DECEMBER 17, 2013 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

BARBARA BOXER, California, Chairman 

MAX BAUCUS, Montana 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont 

SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon 

KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND, New York 

CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey 

DAVID VITTER, Louisiana 

JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming 

JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

ROGER WICKER, Mississippi 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

DEB FISCHER, Nebraska 

BETTINA POIRIER, Majority Staff Director 

ZAK BAIG, Republican Staff Director 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Page 

DECEMBER 17, 2013 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Bennet, Hon. Michael, U.S. Senator from the State of Colorado ......................... 1 

Brown, Hon. Sherrod, U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio ................................ 2 

Portman, Hon. Rob, U.S. Senator from the State of Ohio .................................... 4 

Boxer, Hon. Barbara, U.S. Senator from the State of California ........................ 5 

Vitter, Hon. David, U.S. Senator from the State of Louisiana ............................ 7 

Cardin, Hon. Benjamin L., U.S. Senator from the State of Maryland ................ 10 

Inhofe, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma .................... 12 

Fischer, Hon. Deb, U.S. Senator from the State of Nebraska ............................. 21 

Boozman, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Arkansas ......................... 22 

Barrasso, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming .......................... 23 

Carper, Hon. Thomas R., U.S. Senator from the State of Delaware, prepared 

statement .............................................................................................................. 156 

WITNESSES 

Williams, Roy K.J., nominated to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 

Economic Development, U.S. Department of Commerce .................................. 24 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 27 

Responses to additional questions from: 

Senator Boxer ............................................................................................ 29 

Senator Booker .......................................................................................... 30 

Senator Inhofe ........................................................................................... 31 

Suh, Rhea Sun, nominated to be Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife 

and Parks, U.S. Department of the Interior ...................................................... 32 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 34 

Responses to additional questions from Senator Boxer ................................ 37 

Response to an additional question from Senator Udall ............................... 43 

Responses to additional questions from: 

Senator Booker .......................................................................................... 44 

Senator Vitter ............................................................................................ 46 

Senator Inhofe ........................................................................................... 72 

Senator Barrasso ....................................................................................... 73 

Senator Boozman ....................................................................................... 76 

Burke, Thomas A., nominated to be Assistant Administrator for Research 

and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency .............................. 85 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 87 

Responses to additional questions from: 

Senator Boxer ............................................................................................ 90 

Senator Vitter ............................................................................................ 91 

Senator Inhofe ........................................................................................... 112 

Wassmer, Victoria Baecher, nominated to be Chief Financial Officer, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency ...................................................................... 113 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 115 

Responses to additional questions from: 

Senator Boxer ............................................................................................ 117 

Senator Vitter ............................................................................................ 121 

(1) 

HEARING ON THE NOMINATIONS OF RHEA 

SUN SUH TO BE ASSISTANT SECRETARY 

FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE AND PARKS, U.S. 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR; VICTORIA 

BAECHER WASSMER TO BE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA); ROY K.J. WILLIAMS 

TO BE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE; AND 

THOMAS A BURKE TO BE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, EPA 

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2013 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:34 p.m. in room 

406, Dirksen Senate Building, Hon. Barbara Boxer (chairman of 

the Committee) presiding. 

Present: Senators Boxer, Cardin, Whitehouse, Vitter, Crapo, 

Inhofe, Fischer, Boozman, and Barrasso. 

Senator BOXER. Today, the Environment and Public Works Committee will consider a number of nominations. 

I have discussed with Senator Vitter the fact that we have two 

Senators present who are on terrible time crunches. Before we 

make our opening statements these two Senators are here to speak 

on behalf of nominees. I am going to ask Senator Bennet to start. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL BENNET, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF COLORADO 

Senator BENNET. Thank you, Chairwoman Boxer and Senator 

Vitter. It really is a great privilege to be here today, particularly 

to be here next to my colleague, Senator Brown, and a particular 

pleasure to appear before you in support of Rhea Suh to be our 

next Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks at the U.S. 

Department of the Interior, one of the great jobs in the U.S. Government. 
2 

Rhea’s parents came to this country from South Korea and 

worked hard to build a good life for their family. They moved to 

Boulder, Colorado, where Rhea was born and raised. Learning to 

fish in Lake Granby or camp in Rocky Mountain National Park, 

Rhea developed an early passion for Colorado’s natural resources. 

It is a passion that has driven much of her career. From an early 

age, Rhea worked hard and excelled in school. She graduated from 

Barnard College and earned a Masters in Education from Harvard 

University. She has also received both Fulbright and Marshall 

scholarships. 

Rhea has worked in a diverse range of roles. She served the New 

York City Public School system as a high school science teacher. I 

can tell you, as a former school superintendent myself, it is hard 

to come up with a better testament to someone’s character than 

that. 

Rhea advised former Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Republican, on public lands, energy and environmental issues. In that 

role, she worked effectively across the aisle to pass legislation critical to Colorado. 

She also worked at both the Packard and Hewlett Foundations 

where she planned and executed major national conservation initiatives. 

Most recently, Rhea was confirmed in 2009 by this Senate as Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget at the Interior Department. In this capacity, she has overseen the Department’s human capital, business and budget management. It is a 

tough job and Rhea has done it for 4 years now with skill and 

poise, earning praise across the country for her management style. 

I know Rhea will approach this new position with an emphasis 

on collaboration and common sense, a signature of the State in 

which she was raised and which I am now privileged to represent. 

She will work closely with local officials, farmers, ranchers and environmentalists in support of policies that both promote economic 

growth and safeguard our natural resources. 

I know she will work hard to make sure that future generations 

of Coloradoans, like Rhea herself, continue to be able to enjoy fishing, hiking, camping and the great outdoors. 

Thank you for your time, particularly Madam Chairwoman, for 

your consideration in letting me go first. I hope the Senate will 

swiftly confirm Rhea Suh. 

Thank you. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you, Senator. I know you are introducing 

another nominee across the hall, so go forward. 

Senator Brown, we are delighted to see you here at this Committee. Please proceed. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. SHERROD BROWN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OHIO 

Senator BROWN. Madam Chair, it is an honor to be before your 

Committee, and Senators Vitter and Crapo, two Banking Committee colleagues of mine with whom we have worked well. 

We come before Committees and introduce people from our 

States with some frequency, especially if you represent a State as 

large as the Chairperson’s. Many times I do not know the person 
3 

very well or have only met the nominee once or twice. However, I 

consider Mayor Williams a friend. 

I remember when my wife and I had brunch with him and Sonja, 

his wife, in Youngstown soon after he took the oath of office as 

Mayor of Youngstown. I have worked with him up close and 

watched him up close for 7 years since. I have seen his progress 

as a young Mayor of Youngstown to his work as the auto czar 

where he is very sensitive to the issues that matter so much for 

our State to his appointment now to the Department of Commerce 

with special focus on EDA. 

I look at Youngstown—Senator Portman knows this also—and 

the comeback, a city that once consisted of 180,000 people but is 

now less than half that size, but I can see all kinds of turnaround 

examples in the city of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley along 

sort of the steel corridor of Route 422. 

I have seen his work with the Youngstown business incubator 

which attracted EDA moneys because it is known as one of the best 

incubators in the country and has been very successful bringing 

young people back to Youngstown; for entrepreneurs in starting 

businesses and leveraging Federal dollars and serious numbers of 

companies with increasing numbers of employees. 

I saw his work with the Recovery Act and enforcement of trade 

rules to attract B&M Star Steel, a French company, to invest in 

Mahoning Valley hundreds and hundreds of steel jobs in Youngstown, Ohio. I saw what he did as Mayor and then as auto czar. 

There is a more technical term for that but that is how most of us 

refer to the work he did for these communities after we went 

through all the difficulties in the auto industry in Lordstown, Ohio 

which produces the Chevy Cruz. My wife drives one, my brother 

drives one, three people in my office drive one and my daughter 

drives a Chevy Cruz, all made by Ohio workers in Youngstown, 

Ohio. He gets a lot of the credit for that. 

After he became the auto czar and he looked at the number of 

auto plants that had shut down, he understood there was sort of 

a race between developers buying these old auto plants, tearing 

them, selling them for scrap and making a serious amount of 

money or working with local communities, local businesses and 

local labor unions to preserve these plants and sell them to a developer who would reindustrialize them. 

We are seeing one of those in Dayton right now. Senator 

Portman, the Governor and I and the Dayton Development Coalition are working to reindustrialize one of these plants in Dayton. 

We are seeing examples of that around the country. 

My point, as I wrap up, is that Jay Williams understands the 

partnership between the Federal Government and what we can do 

with EDA; the partnership between the Federal Government and 

local elected officials. He knows how to do that better perhaps than 

any public official I know in my State. 

It is my thrill to be able to introduce Jay and have him come forward in a moment for testimony after Senator Portman speaks. 

I thank you, Madam Chair, for being allowed to come before your 

Committee. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you, Senator. 
4 

We have heard such great personal stories from both of our Senators. Now we will turn to Senator Portman. 

Just so our colleagues know, we are taking the Senators not on 

the Committee first and then we will go to opening statements. 

Senator Portman. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ROB PORTMAN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OHIO 

Senator PORTMAN. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I appreciate 

it. It is good to be with you, Ranking Member Vitter and other 

Committee members, today. 

I am here to join my colleague, Senator Brown, in introducing a 

fellow Ohioan, the Mayor of Youngstown, Jay Williams. 

He has been nominated for a very important job, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development at the Department 

of Commerce. In our view, I think it is fair to say the most important job we have right now is to bring the jobs back. This Commerce Department position is critical to that. 

Too many workers in my State of Ohio and around this country 

have been out of a job for too long, some for months, some for 

years, and Jay understands that. He has not only seen it firsthand 

during his days as Mayor of Youngstown, he has spent much of his 

life trying to improve the economic conditions of all Americans. 

If confirmed, I look forward to working with him and his colleagues over there to keep the economic development projects moving forward on the main streets in Ohio and in your States around 

the country. 

Mayor Williams is a son of Ohio, born and raised in Youngstown, 

took a degree in Finance at Youngstown State University, a fine institution and turned to a career in banking where he was at the 

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland but was also Vice President of 

First Place Bank. He understands the difficulty of getting credit, 

finding a loan and how small businesses struggle with that. 

He has made impacts at various positions. He served as Mayor 

of Youngstown from 2006 to 2011. There he focused a lot on economic development. He wasn’t always focused on making himself 

popular; he was focused on doing the right thing. I think from the 

Right and Left, sometimes he got a bit of input about that but his 

job was to figure out how to turn around things in the Mahoning 

Valley. He took on that challenge directly. 

He worked with Youngstown State University, his alma mater, 

which has a terrific internship program. I visited his incubator program which Senator Brown talked about. It is truly one of the incubators that are working well around the country. 

He has worked with the auto companies, as noted, but also with 

some of our steel fabricators and our steel mill in town to bring 

more jobs. 

He received the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award in 2007, 

an award given by the JFK Library Foundation annually to recognize two people in the entire country under the age of 40 whose 

contributions in elective office, community service or advocacy demonstrate the impact and value of public service in the spirit of JFK. 

In 2011, he became Executive Director of the Office of Recovery 

for Auto Communities and Workers, otherwise known as the auto 
5 

czar at the Department of Labor. His job was to work with local 

communities, including some in Ohio, which were impacted and 

benefited from some of the improvements in the auto industry. In 

that role, he worked hand in hand with struggling communities 

trying to figure out how to get back on their feet. 

Last year, he was detailed to the White House to serve as Deputy Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs to work with 

fellow mayors and other local leaders across the country. 

He has already given a lot to the people of Youngstown, to 

Mahoning Valley, to our State of Ohio and to our country. I have 

no doubt he is ready to give more. I fully support his nomination 

to serve as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development and to lead the Economic Development Administration. 

Thank you for letting me come by today. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you, Senator, so much. We know that you 

are also on a tough schedule, so thank you for being here. 

You should both be proud to have the Senators come and speak 

for you. I think it is a great tribute to you both. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BARBARA BOXER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

Senator BOXER. Today we will consider a number of nominations. 

The confirmation of qualified individuals to lead agencies is such 

an important responsibility of the Senate. I believe it is critical we 

move forward with these nominations so that our agencies can fulfill their missions to serve the American people. 

Jay Williams, as we have heard, brings over 20 years of experience in both the private and public sectors which will serve him 

well as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the Economic Development Administration, an agency I truly believe had made 

quite a difference in the lives of our communities. 

He is currently the Executive Director of the Office of Recovery 

for Auto Communities and Workers at the Department of Labor. As 

we heard, he has played a critical role in helping States and cities 

rebuild their manufacturing potentials, creating job opportunities 

and encouraging economic development. 

Previously, he was the Mayor of the city of Youngstown, Ohio. 

He worked there with the private sector as well. 

If confirmed, he will be responsible for leading the EDA, an agency whose mission is to help economically distressed communities. 

Next, I want to welcome Rhea Sun Suh, the nominee to be Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. We heard about you 

from Senator Bennet. You worked for Ben Nighthorse Campbell 

and have had a long career in working to conserve our Nation’s 

most precious resources, including the time you served as Assistant 

Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget at the Department 

of the Interior. You have served there for 4 years. 

If confirmed, you would help to oversee the Fish and Wildlife 

Service, the guardian of our Nation’s natural treasures and wildlife 

and help support tourism and recreation that boost our economies 

at home. In fiscal year 2011, national wildlife refuges pumped $2.4 

billion into the economy and supported over 35,000 jobs. 

In my home State, the Fish and Wildlife Service manages dozens 

of refuges, protects iconic species like the bald eagle and the Cali-
6 

fornia condor and helps manage millions of birds that migrate 

through our State every year. 

The Committee is also considering the nomination of Dr. Thomas 

Burke to be Assistant Administrator Research and Development at 

the Environmental Protection Agency which conducts research and 

provides expertise on science and tech issues to many EPA programs. 

I think we all believe that strong science is the foundation to 

make sure that EPA safeguards public health and the environment. Dr. Burke brings a wealth of experience there. 

Currently, he is Professor and Associate Dean of the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. 

With over 35 years of experience in State and Federal leadership, 

including as an official at the State of New Jersey’s Department of 

Health, Dr. Burke has also chaired several studies by the National 

Academy of Sciences and has served on multiple EPA science advisory councils and brings a wealth of experience. 

We will also consider the nomination of Ms. Victoria Baecher 

Wassmer to be Chief Financial Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency. Ms. Wassmer has 17 years of experience working 

on budgeting, analysis and management issues. 

She began her service at the OMB, has worked in the private 

sector and local government. Currently, she serves as the Assistant 

Administrator of the FAA’s Office of Finance. 

If confirmed, Ms. Wassmer would help formulate and manage 

EPA’s annual budget and performance plan and provide oversight 

for the agency’s financial operations. 

We know there are a number of reforms going into place right 

now as a result of the scandal involving John Beale, an EPA employee who, as best I can describe, was like the movie, Catch Me 

If You Can, a kind of rogue. I do not even know how to describe 

him. He was a phony, falsely claimed he was a CIA agent, he stole 

money and now the Department of Justice is getting that money 

back. He has begun, I believe, serving a term or is being sentenced. 

He is being sentenced tomorrow. His fraudulent activities span 

multiple Administrations. He did plead guilty in Federal court to 

theft of Federal property. 

This position is absolutely critical because now we have to make 

sure something like this never happens again from these rogue actors, not only at EPA but anywhere in Government. This Committee is going to continue to conduct oversight in this matter as 

the EPA Inspector General completes his investigation. 

I want to note that I spoke to Administrator McCarthy about this 

again. She said she worked hard to shine light on this issue and 

the Obama administration Department of Justice is working to 

make sure taxpayers are reimbursed. I look forward to working 

with the new CFO on all of these issues. 

This hearing is important. I thank colleagues for attending and 

showing interest in these important positions. 

With that, I will call on Ranking Member Vitter. 
7 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DAVID VITTER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA 

Senator VITTER. Thank you very much, Chairman Boxer for convening today’s hearing. I also want to thank all of our nominees 

for being here today. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t express my concern over the scope 

of this hearing that covers four Presidential nominees from three 

distinct agencies. I really believe, as do my colleagues on this side, 

that scope should warrant a more thorough Committee review than 

this pretty rush one at the end of the year. 

Unfortunately, I think it is the nature of our current Senate that 

we have had a limited opportunity to do enough oversight. Because 

that is the case, I want to take this opportunity in my opening 

statement to outline some significant concerns about the failure of 

the Committee on oversight. 

The EPA, as the Chairman mentioned, is wrought with mismanagement and lack of appropriate responsibility to account for 

taxpayer dollars. That is certainly over multiple Administrations, 

not just this one. The most recent and blatant example of this ineptitude is the case she mentioned of CIA agent John Beale. Beale’s 

scam was made possible by a widespread incompetence within the 

agency, in my opinion, and the Committee has also failed to hold 

a budget hearing on the EPA. 

The two are directly related, and I think it is a big, big omission 

that this Committee does not do what is traditional and hold an 

EPA budget hearing toward the beginning of the Congress. 

In addition to these concerns, the agency is in perpetual overdrive executing the President’s extreme climate agenda by administrative fiat. In reality, that has the ultimate impact of increasing 

energy prices being a regressive tax on consumers and making 

America less competitive internationally. 

This side of the Committee has repeatedly asked for a climate 

change oversight hearing regarding this with the EPA and other 

Administration officials. While that is set to be scheduled in the 

new year, we repeat our call that include key witnesses from the 

Government—EPA, Interior, Commerce and so forth. It has to include those key Government witnesses. 

I would also direct significant concerns to the Department of the 

Interior where Ms. Suh has served in a leadership role for 4 and 

a half years. The Department, which is charged with managing our 

lands for multiple uses, has focused instead on an anti-fossil fuel 

agenda. The Administration’s policies use questionable scientific 

and economic analysis to cut off water to farmers, to restrict Native 

Americans from producing their own resources, to eliminate access 

to any type of resource production that the Left does not think is 

appropriate, and so forth. 

Also, the Interior Department has gone to new levels to expand 

upon the practice of negotiating closed door settlement agreements 

with radical environmental organizations that exclude from the discussion the folks directly impacted. Again, the Committee remains 

silent, and we do not have adequate oversight, in my opinion. 

This current state of affairs is not just offensive to those on my 

side of the aisle. Let me quote Jonathan Turley, a supporter of 

President Obama, a Shapiro professor of public interest law at 
8 

George Washington University. He stated, ‘‘There is ample room 

given to a President in setting priorities in the enforcement of laws. 

Even with this ample allowance, however, I believe that President 

Barack Obama has crossed the constitutional line between discretionary enforcement and defiance of Federal law.’’ 

Professor Turley further stated, ‘‘President Obama is not simply 

posing a danger to the constitutional system, he becomes the very 

danger that the Constitution was designed to avoid.’’ 

That sort of overreach is exactly why our oversight role is so essential. It is exactly why our role with regard to executive nominations is so important as part of that oversight role. My side of the 

aisle brings those very strong and legitimate concerns and wants 

to do more aggressive and appropriate oversight through this Committee. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you, so much. 

We are going to be putting together the number of hearings we 

have had on all of the issues you talked about just to give you a 

sense of how it was when Senator Inhofe was Chairman just to 

compare how many witnesses came before us, how many nominees 

of Bush you took at one time because I was here and I don’t think 

that hearing from four different nominees is in any way unusual, 

not only for this Committee, but for any committee. 

I also want to say I saw Jonathan Turley and my understanding 

is he was attacking Obama from the Left and it had to do with the 

NSA, but I am going to go get those because I do not think it had 

anything to do with anything else. 

Senator VITTER. Madam Chair, I would welcome that discussion. 

As part of that discussion, I would like to look at the routine practice of having budget hearings. I think that is essential oversight 

for the EPA and for any agency, as well as these other areas of 

oversight. 

Senator BOXER. Sure. 

Senator VITTER. I am particularly concerned about getting the 

agencies involved in the climate agenda, getting them to testify directly about their administrative actions. 

Senator BOXER. Sure. The good news is you have already signed 

up on a hearing on climate for January 16 and you will get to pick 

a lot of the witnesses. Here is the other point, if I could just finish 

because I think it is important. You used your time to criticize how 

I am running this committee so I am going to take the time it 

takes to respond. 

You have quoted people having viewed the Constitution—I do not 

believe it had anything to do with EPA, but I am going to go back 

and look at it because I watched him saying those things, criticizing Obama from the Left. It is interesting that you would join 

in on that, but that is OK. 

Here is the thing. We have the climate hearing. The budget hearing was canceled because you and your friends over here, your dear 

colleagues, held up Gina McCarthy and asked her a thousand questions and held up her confirmation for months. She was not part 

of four people, it was her. We did have a hearing on the budget. 

It had to be canceled. 
9 

Of course we are going to take another look at that but in my 

opinion, and it is a disagreement here, I sense in your tone and 

tenor, and you have every right and I defend your right to take 

whatever position you and your colleagues take, it seems to me by 

being critical of the fact that we are having a hearing today, calling 

it a rushed hearing, I do not view it as a rushed hearing. 

The people we are hearing from today are super-qualified. One 

of them worked for a Republican United States Senator. To make 

it sound like we are rushing and jamming through is just wrong. 

We will continue to respectfully disagree. I feel that we have 

done a tremendous amount of oversight. We are having I don’t 

know how many hearings on the NRC oversight and have more 

coming up in February. For your sake and my sake, I am going to 

make a list of all the hearings we have had over time and compare 

it to the oversight hearings Senator Inhofe, who I thought was a 

great chairman, had. We will take a look at it. 

Senator VITTER. Madam Chairman, may I respond? 

Senator BOXER. Yes, you may. 

Senator VITTER. Thank you. I will be succinct. 

My comments were about our general oversight responsibility. 

We will just have to agree to disagree. I do not think we have been 

nearly aggressive enough in fulfilling that responsibility. Just to 

underscore so we can move forward productively, my two top priorities would be a budget hearing, which I think is essential. I do not 

understand how the Gina McCarthy thing had to lead to canceling 

that. 

Senator BOXER. Other than that she was the head of the EPA. 

Senator VITTER. If could just finish? 

Senator BOXER. You said you didn’t know how it happened. It is 

like talking about an agency without the head of the agency there. 

Senator VITTER. Well, she is there now and we have asked for 

a budget hearing to be scheduled. 

Senator BOXER. We will have it. 

Senator VITTER. OK, great. We have been asking for that, it was 

scheduled and it was canceled. 

My second top priority is to be able to call in the top leaders of 

Federal agencies directly involved in pushing this extreme climate 

agenda by administrative fiat. That has not been agreed to in 

terms of getting those heads of the agencies as part of that climate 

discussion. 

Senator BOXER. I will call in every agency over which we have 

jurisdiction. I have the gavel. You may get it, and then you can call 

in whoever you want. I am not going to call in people who I do not 

have any oversight over. I think that is an abuse of power. Just 

know I am really not going to do that. 

Anyone that we have oversight over will be here. You can question them. Gina McCarthy will be here, I am really looking forward 

to it, on January 16. Believe me, we will go all day and you can 

talk about budget, clean air, dirty air, clean water, anything you 

want. 

With that, we are going to turn to Senator Cardin. 
10 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MARYLAND 

Senator CARDIN. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

I assume that the four nominees still want to come forward. 

First, I want to thank the Chair for the continuation of the tradition of this Committee, the bipartisan tradition of this Committee 

as it relates to nominations and that is to bring together well qualified professionals whose qualifications are not under challenge at 

all—hopefully these are non-controversial confirmations—to bring 

that together, to package so that our Committee can take action. 

Quite frankly, I haven’t heard from a single constituent who believes that the U.S. Senate is moving too quickly on anything. I am 

happy that we have these confirmation hearings today. 

I would make one further comment. I don’t want to get involved 

in the oversight issue but it is certainly a lot easier to hold an 

agency accountable if you have the confirmed positions in place. In 

too many cases, we have seen very qualified people held up from 

being confirmed not because of their qualifications, but by concerns 

members had in regard to the agency for which they are being 

nominated. 

It is very difficult to say we are going to hold you accountable 

but we won’t give you the confirmed positions in order to do the 

work you need to do. 

Madam Chair, I would ask that my full statement be included 

in the record. 

I had a chance to meet with Ms. Suh. I appreciate her willingness to come forward for a very important position with Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the National Park Service. I had a chance to 

discuss with her several priorities we had in regard to converting 

the Tubman National Monument into a national park. 

I know that you are truly a child of the west, and you have done 

great things in the western part of our State. We know that you 

will bring that enthusiasm to the east coast of the United States, 

particularly as it relates to our national treasure, the Chesapeake 

Bay. We also know that you will work with us as we go over why 

we cannot get damages from those who abuse our wildlife refuges 

and to look at ways we can deal with invasive species. 

These are all areas I mention because I had the honor in this 

Congress to chair the Water and Wildlife Subcommittee of the Environment and Public Works Committee, areas in which we will be 

working together hopefully to advance the agenda during this Congress. 

To Dr. Thomas Burke, thank you. You are a Marylander. That 

gives you a special view in my eyes anyway and I thank you for 

your dedicated leadership. As Chairman Boxer said, we look to you 

and the agency for which you are seeking confirmation to give us 

the best science because our decisions should be based on science. 

Having a confirmed head will help us be able to get that type of 

guidance for our Committee decisions and deliberations. 

I remember your testimony before this Committee, Madam 

Chair, when you had the hearing on the quality of our drinking 

water and contamination with chromium–6. Dr. Burke, I think, 

added greatly to the quality of that hearing and to our responsibility. We thank you for being willing to step forward. 
11 

To the other two nominees, Mr. Roy Williams, let me first thank 

you. The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development is a very important position. In my own State of Maryland, 

the EDA program is critically important to our rural areas. In 

western Maryland, we have the Tri-County Council for Western 

Maryland, and on the shore, we have the Upper Shore Regional 

Council and the Tri-County Council for the Lower Eastern Shore 

that have done incredibly strong economic opportunities as a result 

of EDA’s participation. We will certainly working with you in that 

regard. 

To Ms. Wassmer, we already discussed that the Chief Financial 

Officer is critically important to make sure that we have the right 

policies in place in order to make sure we are getting the best 

value for the money being spent by the public. 

Last, Madam Chair, I want to take this opportunity not only to 

thank the four nominees for being willing to serve the public, but 

this is a very challenging time to serve in the public sector. Your 

willingness to step forward in public service is very, very much appreciated. 

We know you cannot do it alone. We know your family makes 

equal sacrifice. We know that from the sacrifices our families 

make. I particularly want to thank the family members for being 

willing to share their person with the community in this leadership 

position. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Cardin follows:] 

STATEMENT OF HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MARYLAND

Chairman Boxer, thank you for holding this hearing, and I want to welcome each 

of the nominees to the Committee. I look forward to hearing your testimony and answers to our questions. All four of today’s nominees have impressive backgrounds 

and a demonstrated dedication to public service. I offer you best wishes with the 

proceedings of your confirmations. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service serve as important custodians of our Nation’s natural resources. As a ‘‘child of the West,’’ Rhea 

Suh has a lifelong understanding of the importance of robust conservation efforts 

to ensure current scenery and economic opportunities remain strong, and to provide 

these resources with protections for their use by future generations. 

While there is certainly no fault in being from the West, Ms. Suh and I discussed 

in our meeting last week my interest in having the Fish and Wildlife Service and 

the National Park Service pay due attention to the needs here in the East, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay region. There is great opportunity and State and local 

support for Federal help in protecting one of the mid-Atlantic’s most precious and 

valuable natural resources. 

I look forward to working with you in executing the many initiatives we have in 

the region. From building on the establishment of the Harriet Tubman National 

Monument to making the Tubman National Historical Park, to providing the Fish 

and Wildlife Service greater authority to collect damages when refuges are harmed 

by irresponsible actors, to bringing more Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars 

into the region to protect the Bay as is intended by the President’s May 2009 Chesapeake Bay Executive Order. There is a lot of work to do. 

Having worked for both Republicans and Democrats, including Senator Ben 

Nighthorse-Campbell, she understands the importance of working across party lines 

to accomplish great things. 

I also look forward to working with you to develop a Federal strategy for invasive 

species control. Until recently, the wetlands at the Blackwater National Wildlife 

Refuge in my home State, and wetlands in the home State of the Ranking Member, 

were threatened by nutria. This invasive rodent species attacks the roots of wetland 

plants, undermining conservation efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 

harming the overall health of the Chesapeake Bay. Increased coordination efforts 
12 

between Federal, State, and local partners can better protect critical investments in 

place on Federal and private lands across our Nation from invasive species. 

But there is a growing threat nationwide from a wide range of invasive species. 

Pythons in the Everglades. Stinkbugs in the Mid-Atlantic. Asian Carp in the Great 

Lakes. 

These non-native and dangerous species present real public health, safety, economic and ecological threats to the places they are found. I want to work with 

USFWS to develop a comprehensive approach to combating these problems nationwide. 

Dr. Thomas Burke, in addition to being a Maryland resident, has an extensive 

background in protecting the public health and advancing environmental protection 

efforts and is exceptionally well qualified to lead the EPA Office of Research and 

Development. 

His 35 years as a State scientist, public health official, research investigator, 

member of the Science Advisory Board, member of the Board of Scientific Counselors, and Associate Dean for Public Health Practice and Training at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have provided him with an understanding 

of the importance of having credible science to base environmental health decisions. 

His work with the late Senator Lautenberg on chemical safety reform will serve 

this Committee well as we undertake Toxic Substances Control Act Reform. I also 

found his testimony before this Committee in 2011 on the risks of Chromium–6 contamination in drinking water to be incredibly helpful as Congress continues to look 

for opportunities to improve the safety of our Nation’s drinking water. 

Sound science should be the primary factor on which the EPA bases their decisionmaking to protect the environment and public health. As the chair of a National 

Academy of Sciences committee, Dr. Burke has worked to peer review EPA risk 

analysis reports and offered recommendations to improve future risk assessments. 

Dr. Burke has the credentials, respect, and bipartisan approach needed to ensure 

the EPA reaches the best scientific answers to base their decisionmaking on. 

Dr. Burke’s confirmation is urgently needed; this post has been without a confirmed Assistant Administrator for nearly 2 years. This gap in leadership caused attacks on EPA’s scientific review processes to result in unnecessary delays in decisionmaking. A confirmed Assistant Administrator is needed to get EPA’s work back 

on track and to allow science to determine what is needed to protect public health. 

Chairman Boxer, the EPA needs a Senate-confirmed Assistant Administrator for 

the EPA Office of Research and Development. Dr. Burke has proven to be that person. 

Last, I want to talk briefly about the emerging economies of Western Maryland 

and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. These historically underserved communities in 

these beautiful rural reaches of Maryland have benefited from the planning support 

and investments from the Economic Development Administration. From Global Climate Change Mitigation Incentive Fund grants to Economic Development District 

Planning support, these parts of Maryland have seen the important link between 

a strategic Federal investment and the ability for the local community to successfully leverage Federal funding. Mr. Williams, as you go through your confirmation 

process I would encourage you to engage with the Tri-County Council of Western 

Maryland, the Upper Shore Regional Council, and Tri-County Council for the Lower 

Eastern Shore. 

Should you be confirmed, I look forward to working with you in these parts of 

my State to increase the availability of broadband Internet access, improve transportation and provide greater regional economic planning support to foster economic 

growth in these underserved communities. 

I appreciate the opportunity to hear from the nominees today. Thank you. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you very much, Senator. 

I would turn to my friend, Jim Inhofe. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES M. INHOFE, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA 

Senator INHOFE. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

First of all, let me thank Ms. Rhea Suh for coming by the office. 

We spent a long time together and I do appreciate that, and of 

course Roy Williams. I would have to tell them what I told you 

when you walked in the door. I tell my fellow Senators all the time, 

if you want a hard job, you become the mayor of a major city. You 
13 

have done that, and that is why to me when you walked in, you 

were immediately qualified for this job, for that reason. 

There is no hiding place if you are mayor. If they don’t like the 

trash system, it ends up in your front yard, and it did in mine. 

I am going to touch on something a bit different than Senator 

Vitter on the effect that the nuclear option might have on this 

Committee because this Committee has operated very, very well. 

When you were talking about the number of nominees, I remember 

one time when I was chairman, we had seven nominees in one 

hearing. 

This is the first nomination hearing we have had since the nuclear option nominees. If I can take a couple minutes, I would like 

to discuss how this might affect what we are doing here. 

Just last Saturday, the Washington Post confirmed my claim 

that the White House systematically delayed in enacting a series 

of rules on the environment. I am quoting what they said and this 

is exactly what I had said in this Committee. ‘‘The White House 

systematically delayed in enacting a series of rules on the environment, worker safety and health care to prevent them from becoming points of contention before the 2012 election.’’ 

I remember talking about that very thing. That is what that report I put together just 2 weeks before the election was about. 

As Ranking Member, I issued that report warning that President 

Obama and his team of nominees would intentionally manipulate 

the rulemaking process to avoid the political consequences preventing the revelation of these true economic pains, all that happening right before the election. Nominations have long been one 

of the primary means by which this Committee, especially those in 

the minority, can provide a check on this rulemaking bureaucracy. 

However, our oversight leverage in this Committee has now been 

diminished, thus allowing this flexible decisionmaking process of 

the Administration to continue to operate in secret without any 

congressional oversight. Democrats are fully aware of this. 

Back in the days when I was chairman and Senator Carper was 

a minority he actually did something that showed how beneficial 

this is. He used the nomination of Governor Mike Levitt to head 

the EPA to extract data on the 4(p) bill that he was working on 

with Senator Jeffords. 

In fact, the entire Democratic side of the committee boycotted 

Governor Levitt’s confirmation hearing because they were not satisfied with his answers to their 75 pre-hearing questions, keeping 

in mind that he didn’t have any prior experience as an administrator so it was very difficult to do that. 

Nevertheless, the Democrats stonewalled the process, and it 

worked. Senator Carper eventually got the information he requested. I agree with that. I think he should have taken the action 

that he did and it worked. Minority rights were protected. 

I think it is important to remember because President Obama actually mentioned Gina McCarthy’s confirmation process in his remarks supporting the Democrats’ move to end the 60-vote threshold on nominations. 

Our rationale behind delaying McCarthy’s consideration was a 

lack of responsiveness toward our request for information, the most 
14 

important of which was the data underlying the studies the EPA 

used to justify the costly regulations. 

Another example is around the time I was first elected to the 

Senate in 1994, President Clinton tried to move Bob Perciasepe 

from the head of Water to the head of Air without going through 

the regular confirmation process. In protest, I put a blanket hold 

on all Presidential nominees. In turn, President Clinton formally 

submitted the change to the Senate. We then held a hearing and 

confirmed Perciasepe to the Air Office and moved along. 

In this case, our hold was used to protect the integrity of the 

Senate’s constitutional role to provide advice and consent to the 

Presidential nominations. Now that the rules have been changed, 

exercising this kind of authority will be nearly impossible. This 

should be a real concern. 

When I chaired the Committee, I remembered working with Dale 

Hall who served as President Bush’s Director of Fish and Wildlife. 

Prior to his nomination being made official, the Fish and Wildlife 

Service provided reams of data that detailed the work they were 

doing around the country. Much of the data was of particular concern to members of the Committee and it gave us a captive audience with the service that we might not otherwise have had. Because this Committee is actively engaged and vested in the nomination process, we had a much more cooperative relationship. 

I guess I am saying a lot of that is lost now. I think we should 

sit back and look at how that act would affect minority rights in 

this Committee. I think very likely something could change in a 

short period of time, and the majority today could become the minority, so they should be as concerned about that as I am today. 

Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

[The referenced article follows:] 
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[The prepared statement of Senator Inhofe follows:] 

STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES M. INHOFE, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA

This is the first nominations hearing we’ve had since the Democrats exercised the 

nuclear option on nominations, and I think we need to take a few minutes to talk 

about how these actions have eviscerated this Committee’s ability to shine a light 

on rulemaking decisions that occur behind closed doors at EPA and the White 

House. 

Just this last Saturday, the Washington Post confirmed my claim that ‘‘The White 

House systematically delayed enacting a series of rules on the environment, worker 

safety and health care to prevent them from becoming points of contention before 

the 2012 election.’’ 

As Ranking Member, I issued a report on October 18, 2012, warning that the 

President and his team of handpicked nominees will intentionally manipulate the 

rulemaking process to avoid the political consequences, preventing the revelation of 

the true economic pain. 

Nominations have long been one of the primary means by which this Committee— 

especially those in the minority—can provide a check on this rulemaking bureaucracy. 

However, our oversight leverage in this Committee has now been completely diminished, thus allowing this flexible decisionmaking process of the Administration 

to continue to operate in secret without any congressional oversight—and Democrats 

are fully aware of this. Senator Carper, my friend from Delaware, used the nomination of Governor Mike Leavitt to head the EPA to extract data on the 4P bill he 

was working on with Senator Jeffords. 

In fact, the entire Democrat side of the Committee boycotted Governor Leavitt’s 

confirmation hearing because they were not satisfied with his answers to their 75 

pre-hearing questions, never mind the fact that he did not work at EPA prior to 

becoming Administrator, making his access to their questions’ answers much more 

difficult. 

Nevertheless, the Democrats stone-walled the process, and it worked. Senator 

Carper eventually got the information he requested. 

I think this is important to remember because President Obama actually mentioned Gina McCarthy’s confirmation process in his remarks supporting the Democrats’ move to end a 60-vote threshold on nominations. Our rationale behind delaying McCarthy’s consideration was a lack of responsiveness toward our requests for 

information, the most important of which was the data underlying the studies EPA 

uses to justify its costly regulations. 

In another example, around the time I was first elected to the Senate in 1994, 

President Clinton tried to move Bob Perciasepe from head of the Office of Water 

to head the Office of Air without going through the requisite confirmation process. 

In protest, I put a blanket hold on all presidential nominations. In turn, President 

Clinton formally submitted the change to the Senate. We then held the hearing, 

confirmed Perciasepe to the Air Office, and moved along. 

In this case, our hold was used to protect the integrity of the Senate’s constitutional role to provide advice and consent to the President’s nominations. Now that 

the rules have been changed, exercising this kind of authority will be impossible. 

This should be a real concern. When I was Chairman of this Committee, one person I remember working with was H. Dale Hall, who served as President Bush’s 

Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. Prior to his nomination being made official, the Fish and Wildlife Service provided us with reams of data that detailed the 

work they were doing around the country. 

Much of this data was of particular concern to members of the Committee, and 

it gave us a captive audience with the Service that we might not otherwise have 

had. Because the Committee was actively engaged and invested in the nominations 

process, we had a much more cooperative relationship with the Administration and 

received a lot of the information we needed. 

That is now all lost. Because the Democrats have taken away the super majority, 

our ability to exercise effective oversight—either in the majority or minority—is 

gone. This should be concerning to us all. 

I appreciate the time I was able to spend with you, Mr. Williams, discussing the 

valuable work that EDA is responsible for in Oklahoma. I won’t have any questions 

for you, but I look forward to working with you once you are confirmed. 

I also would like to thank Ms. Suh for coming to my office. I appreciated our very 

frank discussion on the decisions you will be responsible for that could negatively 

impact domestic energy independence—something we will get to in the Q&As. 
21 

Senator BOXER. Thank you. 

I think as someone who held out until the last minute on this, 

I can tell you right now there is a difference between holding up 

one person once in a while and holding up so many people. There 

is a difference. I, myself, have holds on people but eventually there 

should be a vote. That is all. 

Senator Fischer. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DEB FISCHER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF NEBRASKA 

Senator FISCHER. Thank you, Chairman Boxer and Ranking 

Member Vitter, for holding today’s hearing to consider the nominations for these very important positions. 

Mr. Williams and Ms. Suh, I would especially like to thank you 

for taking the time to come to my office and meeting. Thank you 

for the conversations we had at that time. I would also like to 

thank each of the nominees for being here today and also for your 

willingness to serve the public. 

The Senate’s role in providing advice and consent on Presidential 

nominees is a responsibility that I take very seriously. I appreciate 

that the nomination process provides the opportunity to not only 

assess the qualifications of nominees but also to engage in policy 

discussions and share with nominees the issues of importance in 

our home States and the concerns of our constituents. 

Nebraska has many concerns, especially when it comes to activities of the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service. 

At a time when the National Park Service estimates that it has a 

maintenance backlog of approximately $13 billion, many Nebraskans were very, very surprised and upset when the National Park 

Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a proposal earlier 

this year that calls for the potential Federal management or acquisition of more than 1.4 million acres in Nebraska and South Dakota. 

Nebraska landowners are already excellent stewards of the natural resources entrusted to them. They are working hard to bring 

both environmental and economic benefits to the area, goals that 

can be achieved through private/public partnerships and conservation programs without increasing Federal jurisdiction over additional private land at taxpayer expense. 

Nebraskans are also concerned about Fish and Wildlife Service 

policy with respect to endangered species. As the agency engages 

in a closed door settlement with environmental activist groups that 

will lead to delisting determinations for more than 250 species, 

many are nervous about the impacts these determinations will 

have on private property rights, energy development and economic 

growth. The public is entitled to a process that is more transparent 

than it has been thus far. 

I am hopeful that the Fish and Wildlife Service will work with 

stakeholders to implement recommendations from the National 

Academy of Sciences to improve its endangered species consultation 

process for pesticide approvals. For too long, product approvals 

have been bottlenecked by a broken process that is impeding innovation and agriculture while doing nothing to protect listed species 

or critical habitat. 
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With respect to EPA, Nebraskans want an agency that operates 

in a transparent manner. Given recent reports of mismanagement 

and lack of internal controls at EPA that led to a senior employee 

stealing close to $1 million, the EPA needs a financial officer who 

is attentive and accountable. 

As the agency moves forward with sweeping regulations, with 

significant economic cost under President Obama’s climate agenda, 

it is critical that the EPA bases its rules on sound, publicly available science. 

Regarding the Economic Development Administration, I am 

hopeful that the EDA will empower communities to develop strategies that foster job creation and attract private investment. Mr. 

Williams, you and I will have a lot to talk about with regard to 

some activities where we can both help the constituents I have in 

the Omaha area. 

Obviously there are many important issues at stake to discuss 

with today’s nominees. I look forward to the opportunity to do so. 

Thank you. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you. 

Senator Boozman followed by Senator Barrasso. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BOOZMAN, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ARKANSAS 

Senator BOOZMAN. Thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking Member Vitter. 

Each of these positions is incredibly important. Mr. Williams, I 

am eager to hear how you believe EDA can promote growth and 

most importantly in economically disadvantaged areas not only in 

Arkansas but throughout the country. 

When we met I appreciated hearing of your knowledge and recognition of the role of the Delta Regional Authority. I look forward 

to your testimony and working with you going forward. I think 

Senator Inhofe made a good point as far as your background, and 

you will have the opportunity to do outstanding things. 

Ms. Suh, I also appreciated meeting with you. I appreciate your 

willingness to serve. Not only in Arkansas but throughout the 

country we have numerous concerns with the Park Service and 

Fish and Wildlife. We will explore these concerns as the process 

continues. In short, many of our problems are rooted in the lack 

of transparency and the failure of the Department to engage with 

communities and citizens before taking action. I think that is very, 

very important and would eliminate a lot of our problems. 

This has been a long term trend but it has grown worse over the 

last few years. Nonetheless, again, I appreciate your willingness to 

serve and very much look forward to engaging with you as the 

nomination process continues. 

Ms. Wassmer and Mr. Burke, you also will have important responsibilities at the EPA. I look forward to your testimony and exploring a number of issues with you. Mr. Burke, I am interested 

in hearing your views on the EPA science advisory process and how 

that might be strengthened to ensure that it is objective, fair and 

transparent. 

With that, I yield back my time. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you. 
23 

We turn to our last speaker, Senator Barrasso. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN BARRASSO, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WYOMING 

Senator BARRASSO. Thank you very much, Madam Chairman. 

I want to thank and congratulate each of our nominees and welcome your families. 

Madam Chairman, I would like to discuss my concerns specifically regarding one of the nominees before us today. That is the 

nomination of Rhea Sun Suh to be Assistant Secretary for Fish, 

Wildlife and Parks at the Department of the Interior. 

The nominee stated in a Hewlett Foundation report national gas 

development was ‘‘easily the single greatest threat to ecological integrity of the west.’’ National gas development easily, she said, was 

the single greatest threat to the ecological integrity of the west. 

As I stated last week before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I find this viewpoint way out of the mainstream and I am sure other members of this Committee do as well. 

Expanding responsible natural gas development is one of the biggest economic success stories in this country and has created thousands of jobs. 

If confirmed, there are pending issues this nominee will be in 

charge of and influence she will have that will allow her to block 

natural gas production in places like Wyoming, Alaska, New Mexico, West Virginia, Louisiana and others. 

There will be numerous decisions that will be made during her 

tenure as to whether to list and designate critical habitat for sage 

grouse in eight western States, not to mention potential listings of 

the lesser prairie chicken in Oklahoma, the Gunnison Sage Grouse 

in Colorado and Utah just to name a few. 

She will also have influence over future species, sue and settle 

agreements and the ability to issue new rules. These are things 

which can restrict or lock up more land and ocean from natural gas 

production both offshore and onshore. 

In addition, the National Park Service, which she will oversee, 

has also begun commenting on BLM’s hydraulic fracturing rule. 

When raising this statement with the nominee, she stated she supports an all of the above approach to energy. We can easily support 

an all of the above approach when the activist groups that have 

been funded through her activities her entire career see the above 

choices as only wind and solar. 

I support an all of the above energy approach because I support 

renewables as well as oil, coal, natural gas, hydro and others. The 

groups that are funded by the Hewlett Foundation where the nominee was previously employed for years started campaigns, one 

called Beyond Coal, another called Beyond Natural Gas. 

If you truly support natural gas development, you would never 

say it is the greatest threat to the west. In fact, the impact on the 

west from natural gas development is quite the opposite. 

I am not the only one who found the nominee’s responses lacking. Washington Examiner columnist Ron Arnold referred to her 

response in his December 15 column as ‘‘transparent impenetrability.’’ 
24 

Even after the nominee joined the Department, she stated before 

the Environmental Grantmakers 25th anniversary that ‘‘I look forward to working with you, my colleagues, mentors and friends to 

utilize the skills and talents of the EGA community to advance a 

more resilient world and a resilient movement.’’ 

Given the threshold for nominations has been lowered, it is incumbent upon this Committee to make sure that we do not confirm 

nominees who want to promote a movement or who consider the 

Grantmakers their colleagues in arms. We need a nominee who 

promotes the agenda of the public at large. 

Natural gas is an important field for our country. Every Senator 

who supports natural gas and has communities that rely on natural gas production should be concerned. 

Thank you, Madam Chairman. I look forward to the questions. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you, Senator. 

Now we would ask you all to come forward and we will get started. I would ask you to keep your comments to 5 minutes. 

Senator Barrasso, I am going to enter into the record the various 

organizations funded by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. 

You will be interested that one of them is the Christian Coalition 

so they do a number of things. 

[The referenced information was not received at time of print.] 

Senator BOXER. I think we will have each of you speak for 5 minutes. We might as well start with you, and I call you Mayor because once a mayor always a mayor and since that is helping you, 

I will call you Mayor Williams. Please go forward. 

STATEMENT OF ROY K.J. WILLIAMS, NOMINATED TO BE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Mr. WILLIAMS. Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Vitter, distinguished members of the Committee, I am honored to come before 

you today as President Obama’s nominee for Assistant Secretary of 

Commerce for Economic Development. 

I want to express my appreciation for the time that you and your 

staff afforded me to meet with you during the past few weeks. It 

was valuable to gain insight into our mutual goals of promoting 

economic vibrancy in your respective States and across the country. 

To Senators Brown and Portman, thank you for your introduction and thank you for your great service to the State of Ohio. I 

greatly appreciate the support the Senators showed me during my 

time as Mayor of the city of Youngstown. We are better off as a 

result of their efforts to put pragmatism over partisanship when it 

came to the interest of their constituents and this country. 

I would also be remiss not to acknowledge my family who has 

joined me here today—my mother who is the source of anything I 

have been able to accomplish; my wife whose love and support is 

beyond what I deserve; and our son, Ethan, who I believe had to 

momentarily step out, as a 3-year old who has made being a parent 

one of the single greatest joys of my life. 

I come here today with a perspective of economic development 

that has been shaped by almost 20 years of experience working 

both in the public and private sectors. I was born, reared and 

forged in a community that was once the poster child of economic 
25 

decline and devastation, a community that was ravaged by the collapse of manufacturing and the lack of economic diversity. 

I am proud to tell you that this very same community is experiencing a renaissance, a renewal beyond what many thought would 

be possible through a combination of visioning, planning, public/ 

private partnerships and investments, and, most importantly, a determined citizenry. Youngstown, Ohio, is redefining itself. 

Over the course of the past 5 years, there has been well over $1 

billion of private investment in the city of Youngstown resulting in 

the creation of hundreds of high quality jobs. One crowning example mentioned by the Senator was Vallourec Star, an international 

corporation which decided to expand in Youngstown. Vallourec Star 

manufactures seamless tubes and pipes used in oil and gas exploration which is, by the way, contributing to the President’s agenda 

of all of the above in terms of reducing our Nation’s dependence on 

foreign sources of oil. 

The city of Youngstown was named as a top 10 destination to 

start a business by Entrepreneur Magazine. The Youngstown region is ranked in the top 10 amongst its peers nationally by Site 

Selection Magazine for the most new and expanded corporate facilities. The city laid claim to the first National Manufacturing Institute. 

Youngstown State University is ranked highly by Forbes and 

Washington Monthly’s College Guide among others. Youngstown is 

home to one of the best startup incubators in the world and is helping to lead the national export role. 

Without question, the city of Youngstown still faces problems and 

challenges like many communities across this Nation. However, the 

city is no longer being defined solely by its problems as it had been 

for so many decades. It is also helping to establish a blueprint for 

other similarly situated communities across the country. 

The Economic Development Administration plays a critical role 

in facilitating the economic transformation of distressed communities. I have always held that jobs are not created by politicians 

or government agencies. However, EDA and other government 

agencies do play an important role in helping to shape the economic environment. It is within this environment that private capital is put at risk by entrepreneurs, whether manufacturing, technology or providing goods and services. That ultimately creates 

jobs. 

The public sector also plays a crucial role in investing in infrastructure, promoting innovation and encouraging regional cooperation, which likewise boosts private sector job creation. During the 

last few years, I have had the privilege to engage communities 

across this country from Alameda County, California, to Shreveport, Louisiana, from Flint, Michigan, to Gary, Indiana, and Quad 

Cities, Iowa, just to name a few. Without fail, those regions that 

are undergoing positive economic transformation have successfully 

leveraged public/private partnerships. This approach is at the core 

of the mission of the Economic Development Administration. 

Over the last 5 years, we have worked to clear away the rubble 

of the greatest economic recession this country has seen since the 

Great Depression. While significant progress has been made, there 
26 

is still a lot of work to be done. I cannot think of a better place 

to continue that important work than from EDA. 

In an environment of scarce resources, it becomes ever more important that our investments be made strategically and catalytically. We must help create an environment in which the principles 

of free and fair market capitalism reward those entrepreneurs who 

take risks, respect those workers who make the goods and services, 

and increases the quality of life in the communities that we call 

home. 

The mission of the Economic Development Administration, which 

is to lead the Federal economic development agenda, promote innovation and prepare American communities for growth and success 

in this global economy is one that demands nothing short of excellence, accountability and measurable outcomes in its execution. 

If I am fortunate enough to garner the support of this Committee, and if confirmed by the full Senate, I will work with you 

and your colleagues and the committed professionals at EDA to 

maintain the confidence of the people that we serve. 

Chairman Boxer, thank you for this opportunity to address the 

Committee. I look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Williams follows:] 
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Senator BOXER. Thank you. 

Ms. Suh. 

STATEMENT OF RHEA SUN SUH, NOMINATED TO BE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR FISH AND WILDLIFE AND PARKS, U.S. 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Ms. SUH. Thank you, Madam Chair, Ranking Member and members of the Committee. 

I think I actually have had a chance to meet with each one of 

you. I greatly appreciate the time that you have afforded me. 

Unfortunately, my husband, Michael Carroll and my daughter, 

Yumi, are not able to join me today. My daughter actually has her 

very first Christmas pageant right now. With all due respect, there 

are greater priorities for a 3-year-old who has been practicing her 

songs and dance in the starring role of elf No. 3. 

I am a child of the west. I was born in Colorado and raised by 

Korean immigrant parent who found their way to that great State 

like so many other pioneers with dreams of freedom and of a better 

life for their family. While my parents also could not be here today, 

I would like to acknowledge them as well. They came to America 

with nothing and in turn gave me and my sisters everything. 

Like so many other Americans, I grew up reaping the benefits of 

the lands and waters managed by our Federal Government. My 

earliest memories are memories of being outside, fishing with my 

father, exploring for fossils and going to camp in the shadow of 

Rocky Mountain National Park. This tapestry of lands, the backdrop of my childhood, has influenced me and my values throughout 

my life. 

For the past 4 and a half years, I have had the honor of serving 

as the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget at 

the Department of the Interior. I have had the privilege of working 

with each of the nine bureaus at the Department on a broad array 

of issues. I have led efforts to secure the resources required by each 

of the bureaus to uphold their missions, but I have focused a concerted effort on ensuring that in these challenging fiscal times, we 

manage those resources in a manner that is both effective and efficient. 

I have led the enterprise to achieve more than $500 million in 

savings and untold millions in cost avoidance, including $160 million in real estate consolidations and $200 million in smarter purchasing agreements. 

While my most recent experience at the Department has focused 

more on administrative and fiscal policy, I have nearly two decades 

of issue experience on natural resources. I started my career as a 

Senate staffer working for Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell from 

Colorado where I worked on both energy and natural resource policy. 

I had the unusual opportunity to work on both sides of the aisle 

during that time, 2 years on the Democratic side and a year on the 

Republican side. This unique circumstance profoundly shaped my 

views on policy and left me with the strong belief that collaboration, while often not easy or straightforward, can result in the most 

creative and durable policy outcomes. 
33 

These beliefs helped guide me in my tenure as a program officer 

for both the Hewlett and the Packard Foundations where I continued to work on natural resource issues. In particular, I supported 

the efforts to expand the array of voices and perspectives on conservation including those of hunters and anglers, indigenous communities and faith-based organizations. 

I am now before you today as the President’s nominee for the Assistant Secretary of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, a position that would 

allow me to focus more concertedly on the critical work of conservation. I come to this opportunity with great humility as it would afford me the chance to work with two of the most storied agencies 

at the Department of the Interior, the Fish and Wildlife Service 

and the National Park Service. 

Americans love the outdoors. We love to hunt and fish. We love 

our parks. The national refuge system is truly America’s backyards. These are the places where millions of us go to hunt, fish 

and explore. These are among our Nation’s most popular pastimes, 

and the Fish and Wildlife Service is uniquely positioned to welcome 

a new generation of Americans to be connected to the natural heritage that is our birthright. 

When the National Park Service celebrates its 100th anniversary 

in 2016, we will have an even greater opportunity to renew the 

bonds Americans have with their parks. The National Park Service’s second century is a defining moment, offering us an opportunity to celebrate America’s natural and cultural history and to 

lay a strong and sensible foundation for the next century of stewardship. 

From the first time I hooked a rainbow trout with my dad, I became the beneficiary of our Nation’s rich natural heritage and if 

confirmed, I hope to continue the legacy of this bounty by strengthening the opportunities for Americans to be connected to and to 

benefit from the outdoors by pursuing pragmatic balance and solutions that contribute to the conservation of the Department’s lands 

and waters for the benefit of all of the people of this great country. 

Thank you, Madam Chairman and members of the Committee. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Suh follows:] 
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Senator BOXER. Thank you so much, Ms. Suh. 

Dr. Burke. 

STATEMENT OF THOMAS A. BURKE, NOMINATED TO BE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

Mr. BURKE. Good afternoon, Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member 

Vitter and members of the Committee. 

It is an honor to appear here today as President Obama’s nominee to be the Assistant Administrator for Research and Development at EPA. 

I have devoted my career to advancing public health and environmental protection. For more than 35 of EPA’s 43 years, I have 

worked closely with the agency as a State scientist, public health 

official, researcher and member of the Science Advisory Board. I 

have also served on the Board of Environmental Studies at the National Academy of Sciences and chaired a number of Academy studies looking at science at the EPA. 

As with most people, my interests were shaped by my early experiences. Growing up in Jersey City in the shadow of the Statue of 

Liberty, I have vivid memories of my early environment before 

there was an EPA: the musty smell of low tide in New York Harbor; the summer spraying of DDT; the cleaning solvents from the 

industrial laundries; the black plumes from the Jersey Central locomotives; and the chemical mountains, giant slag heaps from the 

chromium factories. 

I also had an early interest in health and disease. Born with a 

congenital heart defect, I was blessed to have lifesaving open heart 

surgery at Johns Hopkins. Three of my close childhood friends were 

not so fortunate and died from leukemia and brain cancer. 

My interest in the connection between environment and health 

were galvanized during my graduate studies at the University of 

Texas when the National Cancer Institute released an Atlas of 

Cancer Mortality showing that my home State led the Nation in 

cancer deaths. The media dubbed it cancer alley. 

After graduate school, I was named Director of the New Jersey 

Office of Cancer and Toxic Substances Research. I led research on 

toxic and cancer-causing pollutants that shaped many State and 

national approaches to ensure the safety of our drinking water, reduced toxic releases and clean up of hazardous waste sites. I also 

investigated childhood clusters of cancer. 

As a State scientist, I served three Governors, both Republican 

and Democrat. I stood at their sides during environmental emergencies like the dioxin contamination in the Ironbound section of 

Newark and the closure of our beaches from sewage spills and 

medical waste. I was also fortunate to work with the late Senator 

Frank Lautenberg in his efforts to improve chemical safety and 

prevent cancer. 

My experiences have given me a very practical perspective on the 

importance of strong science to guide difficult environmental decisions. I am proud that New Jersey is now a national example of 

the important link between a healthy environment and economic 

growth. 
86 

At Johns Hopkins at the Risk Science Institute, my colleagues 

and I work to advance science, evaluating and communicating risk. 

I have the privilege to train many of the emerging leaders in environmental science, some of who are here today. I have also worked 

closely with State and local officials and our Federal agencies on 

numerous important issues including emergency preparedness, the 

chemical exposures to our troops, the toxic flood waters of Katrina, 

nuclear waste clean up and the safety of our food supply. 

Through the National Academy of Sciences and the EPA Science 

Advisory Board, I have worked to push EPA to do better science 

to address the needs of decisionmakers. I chaired the NAS Committee on Improving Risk Analysis that provided the report, 

Science and Decisions, providing a framework for the future of risk 

assessment. 

While I have not been shy about pushing EPA to do better 

science, I do have a deep respect for the work of agency scientists. 

Science is indeed the backbone of EPA decisionmaking, and it has 

been the foundation of our Nation’s environmental progress over 

the past four decades. I believe those tasks making these important 

decisions regarding environmental protection for the public good 

need to be informed by the best science, science that is credible, 

transparent, timely and inclusive. 

If confirmed, I look forward to working with the members of this 

Committee, stakeholders in business and industry, State and local 

partners and the broader scientific community to make sure that 

EPA is asking the right questions and getting the best scientific 

answers. 

I thank you, Chairman Boxer and members of the Committee, for 

this opportunity to meet with you today. I am happy to answer any 

questions. 

Since I have a few seconds, I want to acknowledge my family and 

my sons Matt and Tim who are watching, my wife, Margo and my 

daughter, Emily, who are here today. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Burke follows:] 
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Senator BOXER. Thank you very much. 

Last but certainly not least, we turn to Ms. Wassmer. 

STATEMENT OF VICTORIA BAECHER WASSMER, NOMINATED 

TO BE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL 

PROTECTION AGENCY 

Ms. WASSMER. Good afternoon, Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Vitter and other members of the Committee. 

It is my honor to appear today before you as President Obama’s 

nominee as the Chief Financial Officer for the Environmental Protection Agency. If confirmed, I will work every day to be worthy of 

this privilege by serving the President and Administrator McCarthy with dedication and commitment. 

Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to thank my parents, Frank and Viola Baecher, my parents. My mom, who is actually here just behind me, grounded me in the spirit of public service. After attending the University of Chicago, Graduate School of 

Social Work, they served as clinical social workers in the Chicago 

area public school system. It was through their example over decades of dedicated service that I learned the importance of giving 

back, being accountable and working with purpose to make things 

better. 

Over my 20-year career, I have spent 15 years in service to the 

Federal Government. By building on my technical training with 

hands-on, practical leadership and management experience, I have 

had the opportunity to take on progressively challenging and invigorating jobs. 

After completing graduate school in public policy at the Kennedy 

School of Government, I spent 6 years at the Office of Management 

and Budget. I first served as a policy analyst in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs before becoming a program examiner in the Transportation Branch, overseeing management, regulatory policy and budgetary issues over an array of agencies. I 

learned from master senior executives and policy officials the importance of being a dedicated, responsible steward of the American 

taxpayers’ money. 

After several years spent at the local transit agency and in the 

private sector, the pull of Federal service brought me back. I joined 

the Federal Aviation Administration as a manager and later Deputy Director in the Office of Budget. 

I then went on to become a member of the Senior Executive 

Service and the Deputy Chief Financial Officer, managing the $16 

billion annual budget that allows the FAA to provide its mission 

of being the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world, 

and being responsible for such a large complex budget for such a 

high profile agency allowed me to apply strategic, data-driven approaches to implementing sound business practices that ensured 

performance and accountability. 

In 2010, I became the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President 

of Administration at the Millennium Challenge Corporation. MCC 

was still maturing from a startup international development agency and to a results-driven, transparent and innovative organization. I was responsible for realigning corporate services, including 
114 

finance, human resources, acquisitions and information technology 

to better support the agency’s mission. 

I also implemented tighter internal controls and improved financial practices which allowed for scarce budgetary resources to go 

further in supporting poor, lower and middle income countries that 

were well governed. 

In August 2011, I was asked to return to the FAA to create a 

new organization for an agency that had made significant investments in me as a senior leader. As the Assistant Administrator for 

Finance and Management, I have overseen the transformation of 

the agency’s finance, acquisition, information technology and regions and center operations services into a single, integrated, 

shared services model. 

After 2 years, I can proudly say that we have moved from a new 

standup organization to a high performing, value added operation. 

When constrained fiscal times necessitated improved efficiencies 

and cost savings, my team and I navigated the agency’s unprecedented budget cuts. Our data driven approaches helped the agency 

identify approximately $637 million in budget reductions, of which 

over half, $320 million, were through contract spending, travel and 

other non-pay cuts. 

I was asked recently what my definition of success is. Throughout my career, success has meant working on a trajectory of improving things systematically, making change and getting results 

when even after I have left, things are still moving forward. 

If confirmed to serve as the CFO, I will work just as hard and 

with as much commitment using my full talent and experience in 

support of the EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. 

Thank you again. I welcome any questions you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Wassmer follows:] 
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Senator BOXER. Thank you, Ms. Wassmer. 

I want to say to all the family members who are here, thank you. 

I neglected to do that. I know families make sacrifices. You can just 

tell from a bit of the back and forth here, politics is not for the 

faint of heart but, except for Mr. Williams, the rest of you who 

have not been in political office, I know it is a bit stunning to kind 

of be in that circumstance to accept some of the shots and arrows. 

That is the way it is. I think that is why these hearings are important. 

I want to say, Ms. Suh, you received some criticism from Senator 

Barrasso. I am sorry he is not here but I would like to enter into 

the record without objection an amazing list of letters of support 

headed by former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Ducks, 

Ltd., Outdoor Industries Association, Nature Conservancy, Student 

Conservation Association, Southeast Tourism Society, Trust for 

Public Land, Land Trust Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, Wilderness Society, and American Sports Fishing Association, Congressional Sportsmen Foundation, Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, 

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Trout Unlimited, 

Izaak Walton League of America, Wildlife Management Institute 

and the Mule/Deer Foundation. Place these letters in the record because I think that is a tremendous list of support. 

[The referenced information was not received at time of print.] 

Senator BOXER. Second, I am going to put into the record what 

I said to Senator Barrasso. You were with the William and Flora 

Hewlett Foundation as well as the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, named after the very, very famous David Packard, so important to Silicon Valley in the long ago days when it got started. 

I think it is important to see some of the groups that these foundations support: Bipartisan Policy Center, Catholic Charities, 

Christian Coalition, the NAACP, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation 

Partnership, Western Governors Association, American Farmland 

Trust, National Geographic Society, National Trust for Historic 

Preservation, and Taxpayers for Common Sense. 

I know when you were in those foundations you made suggestions to fund these very organizations. I want to put that into the 

record. 

[The referenced information was not received at time of print.] 

Senator BOXER. Then I want to home in on your sense of natural 

gas because as I look at natural gas, it is a very important contribution; it is less carbon than the fossil fuels and I look at it as 

a transition fuel because I am hoping that we can get clean energy 

but it is slow and I think it is a very important part of our mix. 

I also believe that it is critical that it be done safely because my 

view is having watched nuclear power, when nuclear power is done 

safely everyone supports it but when it is not done safely—and we 

have had that experience in our State—it shuts down. 

I want to ask you specifically if you could share your view on the 

role of natural gas and how it fits into the Administration’s energy 

strategy. 

Ms. SUH. Thank you very much for the opportunity to answer 

that question. 

Not only do I support the President’s all of the above energy 

strategy but specifically as you referred to natural gas’ role within 
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that portfolio of energy supply in the country. It is hugely important. 

In 2013, I believe natural gas royalties returned $1.6 billion to 

the American taxpayer in the form of royalties. Twenty percent of 

Federal lands accounts for 20 percent of the natural gas production 

in the country. I recognize the importance of that and I am committed to it. I think that commitment is demonstrated by the support I have given to promote robust budgets for energy development that include natural gas development. 

Since 2008 there has been a 57 percent increase in the energy 

budgets within the Department of the Interior and that clearly 

demonstrates not only a priority around energy development, but 

specifically an emphasis on how we do this development in a way 

that is balanced. 

The final thing I will say is that energy development is a critical 

part of our Nation’s economy. I think the job at the Department of 

the Interior, specifically the job if I am confirmed for Fish, Wildlife 

and Parks, is a job that will require the balance of needs and aspirations of local communities for economic development with the obligations that we have at the Department for conservation. 

I think the critical reality is how you pursue that balance with 

integrity and respect for local communities. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you. 

Ms. Wassmer, would you agree to meet with my staff as soon as 

possible to discuss your plans for strengthening oversight of EPA’s 

financial management system to detect and prevent fraud and to 

effectively manage spending of resources to better protect public 

health and the environment? 

Ms. WASSMER. Yes. If I have the honor to serve in that position, 

I would be honored to come back and meet with you and your staff. 

Senator BOXER. That would be very important. 

I am going to ask everyone here to answer yes or no down the 

line so I can get this out of the way. Do you agree, if confirmed, 

to appear before this Committee or designated members of this 

Committee and other appropriate committees of the Congress and 

provide information subject to appropriate and necessary security 

protection with respect to you responsibilities? 

[All nominees respond in the affirmative.] 

Senator BOXER. Do you agree to ensure that testimony, briefings, 

documents, electronic and other forms of communication of information will be provided to this Committee and its staff and other 

appropriate committees in a timely manner? 

[All nominees respond in the affirmative.] 

Senator BOXER. Do you know of any matters which you may or 

may not have disclosed that might place you in any conflict of interest if you are confirmed? 

[All nominees respond in the negative.] 

Senator BOXER. Thank you all. 

Senator Vitter. 

Senator VITTER. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Ms. Suh, in light of your answer to the Chair’s first question 

about natural gas, the obvious follow up is this. In light of that, 

why did you say ‘‘the pace and magnitude of this development’’— 
126 

meaning natural gas—‘‘is easily the single greatest threat to the ecological integrity of the west’’? 

Ms. SUH. Thank you, Senator Vitter, for that question. I want to 

thank your staff for the opportunity to meet with them in the last 

couple of weeks. 

Development has consequences for landscapes. Impacts associated with development are, in many ways, inevitable, so the impacts associated with natural gas, particularly natural gas development that occurs over a large area and large acreage has impact. 

The role that I have at the department and the role for me specifically around how you balance that impact with the need for economic development and fulfilling the aspirations of communities is 

demonstrated by my report. 

Senator VITTER. Can I take it from this quote that you disagree 

with the current ‘‘pace and magnitude of this development’’? 

Ms. SUH. I am sorry, could you clarify the question? 

Senator VITTER. The quote suggests that you disagree with the 

current ‘‘pace and magnitude of this development in the west.’’ Is 

that correct or not? 

Ms. SUH. That is not correct. 

Senator VITTER. Again, why did you say that? I don’t understand 

your first answer. Why did you say that? 

Ms. SUH. Again, there are real impacts associated with energy 

development. The question is how do you balance those impacts 

with the conservation and economic needs of communities? 

Senator VITTER. Do you think those impacts of natural gas in the 

west is ‘‘the single greatest threat to the ecological integrity of the 

west’’? 

Ms. SUH. Again, development has consequences but I believe that 

those consequences can be balanced in a rational and reasonable 

way. 

Senator VITTER. The Administration decided to implement a 

drilling moratorium in the Gulf after the BP disaster. That cost 

thousands of jobs and a lot of jobs overseas. Did you raise any objection to that decision when it was being made? 

Ms. SUH. I was not a part at all of any of those conversations 

or any of the decisionmaking process around that moratorium. 

Senator VITTER. Were you ever asked in your role in Interior 

about the potential impacts to the Treasury of shutting down that 

energy development? 

Ms. SUH. No, sir, I was not. 

Senator VITTER. Did you object in any way to the recent decision 

by Fish and Wildlife to move forward with 30-year permits that 

allow for wind farms to kill a significant number of bald eagles? 

Ms. SUH. I was not involved in that decision. I am aware of that 

decision and it is my understanding that rule not only applies to 

the wind industry but to industry overall and enables us specifically with the industry to develop a regulatory framework for both 

certainty and predictability and an opportunity for permitting and 

therefore, enforcement. 

I believe it gives the Fish and Wildlife Service a greater ability 

to ensure the protection of that species and ensure the appropriate 

oversight of all industries. 
127 

Senator VITTER. Did you object to the Office of Surface Mining 

Stream Buffer Zone Rule which would cause up to 7,000 job losses 

and have a negative impact in 22 States? 

Ms. SUH. Again, I was not involved in that policy decision. 

Senator VITTER. If you haven’t been involved in any of the stuff, 

why have you said that in your current role, ‘‘I’ve been involved in 

every single one of the policy priorities from Secretary Salazar to 

now Secretary Jewell.’’ It is a very broad-based role in the Department. You said that in that quote. What am I missing because it 

seems at odds with your answers here? 

Ms. SUH. As the CFO for the Department of the Interior, I am 

primarily responsible for budget formulation and execution. I have 

supported and been involved in support of all the major policy priorities for each of the nine bureaus that we have. 

Senator VITTER. I have just mentioned some of the major policy 

priorities and you said you have not been involved in any of those. 

Ms. SUH. I have been involved in supporting the necessary resources required to support those policy decisions. 

Senator VITTER. Just a comment. It strikes me as those two 

things are at odds but I will come back to some other concerns. 

Thank you. 

Senator WHITEHOUSE [presiding]. Ms. Suh, welcome to the Committee. The Chairman has stepped out so I have the gavel momentarily until she returns. 

I wanted to follow up on the conversations you and I have had 

which are quite specific to Rhode Island. One has to do with the 

national park that we are hoping to establish in Rhode Island. We 

are the State with the least national parks of any State, and you 

could probably fit our national park about in this hearing room. 

Senator Reid has been working very hard on the Blackstone Valley Historic District becoming a national park. One of the ways in 

which we would like the different elements along the Blackstone 

River to be accessible and connected is by water as well as by car 

and bicycle. 

I want your assurances that you will work with me and Senator 

Reid in development of that project. It has been described as pearls 

threaded on a string. We want to make sure the string is both 

road, bike, hike and water as well for kayakers, canoers and people 

who want to take advantage of that. 

Ms. SUH. Thank you again for the time you spent with me. I absolutely will commit to working with you in pursuing the opportunity for the park designation and the opportunities specifically 

around the waterways that can provide the connectivity between 

those pearls. 

Senator WHITEHOUSE. Thank you. 

Rhode Island is a small State, so all of the opportunities that we 

have for recreation are really precious to us. We have some very, 

very special rivers. They are not great rivers. It is not the Columbia or the Mississippi but we have a number of rivers and hundreds of dams as a result of being an old State, an original State 

and one with all these rivers. 

Some of the dams are very old, some are very small and present 

different problems, but a common theme that I hear is that if you 

wanted to build a canoe or kayak passage to help make navigating 
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a dam safer, easier and expand the recreational opportunities there 

or if you wish to install a micro-hydro facility to generate a little 

bit of power from the dam, or if you wish to put in a fish ladder 

so that the fish that used to swim up these rivers in order to breed 

could do so again and you could restore that part of their environment. 

In all of those different circumstances, you run across multiple 

Federal agencies and relatively complex and demanding procedures, which if you wanted to do something with a dam on the Columbia, the Mississippi, the Missouri or some of our major rivers, 

you could understand. For some of these very little rivers and very 

small dams, particularly if it is a private group of canoers and 

kayakers who want to build the passage, the regulatory cost of trying to sort through that basically disables anyone’s ability to take 

advantage of those opportunities. 

I hope very much that you will work with me and my office in 

trying to identify ways for these very small dams on very small rivers that the application process, the information that is required 

and all that can be reduced so that some of these very beneficial 

uses can be made feasible where they aren’t now because of the 

cost of compliance. 

Ms. SUH. Senator, if confirmed, I am absolutely happy to continue to work with you on this issue. Since our conversation, I actually went back and had some conversations within the Department 

to try to get some sense of why these potential hurdles exist and 

what we can do about them. 

Again, if confirmed, I am committed to working with you and 

your staff to ensure that we utilize the opportunities that we have 

with those resources to maximize the recreational benefits we have 

for our population. 

Senator WHITEHOUSE. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. 

Best wishes to you. 

Senator BOXER [presiding]. We will now go to Senator Inhofe. 

Senator INHOFE. I have to say, Ms. Suh, I had not seen that 

quote and I am in shock. You say ‘‘the pace and magnitude of gas 

development is easily the single greatest threat to the ecological integrity of the west,’’ the single greatest. What is the threat? Do you 

stand by that statement now or have you changed your mind? 

Ms. SUH. Sir, I think I have made it clear that as a member of 

this Administration, I support all of the above energy policy and I 

support natural gas development. I support the opportunities for 

pursuing energy development. 

Senator INHOFE. That isn’t satisfactory. That is such a strong 

statement. I am still in shock. 

You and I talked about a specific problem we have in Oklahoma, 

the lesser prairie chicken and the American burying beetle in the 

eastern part of the State. The American burying beetle has been 

endangered since 1989. We have found significant populations of 

that particular critter and we had a system for a while called the 

Beta Wade. I don’t know what happened to it or if you are familiar 

with that system. 

It was supposed to be replaced by something to correct the problem. The American burying beetle in one project, a $100 million 
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pipeline, has completely stopped operations. For another company, 

it has already cost $12.5 million. 

In April, I brought this up and was told the Service would approve a new conservation plan by December 2013. It is now December 2013. I know you haven’t been here but will you make any kind 

of commitment to come up with a conservation plan? We have people losing money every day over something over which they have 

no control whatsoever. 

Ms. SUH. I understand. After the conversation that we had last 

week, I followed up with the Fish and Wildlife Service to try to determine the timeframe. It looks like spring—March or April 2014. 

My understanding is the work they are doing on the general conservation plan is work they are specifically doing with industry to 

ensure whatever ends up in the plan is workable and balanced 

with industry and trusts. 

Senator INHOFE. Let’s say April 2014? 

Ms. SUH. I believe that is correct. 

Senator INHOFE. We will be having hearings, and it is something 

that really needs to be corrected. It is a very serious problem. 

Last April, Richard Hatcher, Director of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, wrote Fish and Wildlife asking to 

start a delisting process. Apparently it is accurate that these populations of the American burying beetle are plentiful now and they 

are coming along. He has not gotten a response from that letter 

and that was in April. If you are confirmed, would you respond to 

him or see that a response is made? 

One thing I do not like about bureaucracy is if there is no response, then you do not have any idea. It seems as if that is sometimes deliberate. Would you make an attempt to give a response 

to Mr. Hatcher if you are confirmed? 

Ms. SUH. Yes, sir, if I am confirmed, I absolutely will commit to 

that. 

Senator INHOFE. Dr. Burke, when Lisa Jackson was the Director 

of the EPA, there was a lot of conversation at that time about hydraulic fracturing, about precision drilling and about horizontal 

drilling. I would say this and I should have mentioned this while 

I was asking you a question, Ms. Suh, that you talked about the 

increase in development of natural gas during the last 4 or 5 years. 

That is all on private or State land. None of that—in fact, we have 

had a reduction on Federal land. This is the big problem we have. 

Do you agree with Lisa Jackson? I asked her, has there ever 

been a confirmed case of groundwater contamination as a result of 

hydraulic fracturing? She said no. 

Mr. BURKE. I am not familiar with that question but from my 

own experience, having done many studies of groundwater contamination, I am not familiar with a specific case. 

Senator INHOFE. Very good, that is essentially what she said. We 

have talked about this over a period of time. It happens the first 

hydraulic fracturing was done in my State of Oklahoma in 1948 

and there have been over a million applications of this and yet we 

do not have that. 

Ms. Suh, do you agree with his response to that question? 
130 

Ms. SUH. I am less sophisticated in terms of my exposure to research and development but I am not aware of any specific studies 

or findings either. 

Senator INHOFE. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

Senator BOXER. Senator Fischer. 

Senator FISCHER. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

A little follow up from Senator Inhofe’s question, Ms. Suh. Are 

you aware that from 2008 to 2012, the U.S. natural gas production 

increased by 11 percent overall as it fell 13 percent on Federal 

lands? 

Ms. SUH. I was not aware of that statistic. 

Senator FISCHER. If confirmed, do you hope that energy production on Federal lands will have gone up or down on your watch? 

Ms. SUH. Energy production on Federal lands obviously continues to be a hugely important part of our economy. I think the 

responsibility of the Federal Government, specifically the Department of the Interior, is to balance the opportunity for economic development which obviously means a lot to the members of this 

Committee and your States. I commit to that. 

Senator FISCHER. Would you personally try to look for ways to 

increase energy production on Federal lands? 

Ms. SUH. I specifically would, if confirmed, look for opportunities 

where there are development opportunities to balance those development opportunities to allow those development opportunities to 

continue to move forward in a way that allows us to conserve our 

natural resources and fulfill our statutory obligations for those resources. 

I believe you can balance those things. I believe it is all about 

the approach and all about the intention of driving toward a solution that is balanced on both sides. 

Senator FISCHER. Do you believe balance can be found between 

conservation and management of natural resources? 

Ms. SUH. Absolutely. 

Senator FISCHER. On to pesticides, which I mentioned in my 

opening statement. The EPA must consult with the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife or the National Marine and Fisheries Service when it 

comes to dealing with pesticides. The EPA and the Services currently disagree on the fundamental legal and science policy matters 

related to their respective obligations under the Endangered Species Act and FIFRA. 

There are scientific disagreements along with the lack of a sound 

and workable process for consultation under the ESA. That creates 

what I believe to be a huge bottleneck that we are seeing for the 

pesticide registration process. Another issue with that is also the 

lack of resources, either human or monetary, that the Services face. 

It is really difficult for I think agricultural innovation to take 

place in this area. I think it is extremely important not just to the 

agricultural economy but to our natural resources as well. How do 

the Services plan to secure enough funding and more importantly, 

find other alternatives so that you can keep pace with that workload we are seeing with the pesticide consultation? 

Ms. SUH. Obviously these are challenging budget times. I think 

the Fish and Wildlife Service is working hard to prioritize its budget in a way that delivers to the American public. My understanding 
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is that they are working through recommendations of the National 

Academy of Sciences report that will help inform the Federal family in how we can best proceed in a way that expedites clarity and 

transparency around these outcomes. 

Senator FISCHER. You talked about the Federal family. Would 

you try to work in your position, if you are confirmed, to work better with EPA to come up with some kind of agreement when it 

comes to these innovations? I think they are very positive with regards to pesticides? 

Ms. SUH. I absolutely would commit to that. I believe the role we 

all have in whatever Department we sit, we are responsible for ensuring that we act reasonably, we move beyond our silos and try 

to create outcomes that have positive consequences for the American people and the resources that we manage. 

Senator FISCHER. Can you comment on the role Fish and Wildlife 

and the National Marine and Fisheries Services play in protecting 

threatened and endangered species as related to EPA’s registration 

of the products? Do you think you can protect the species and still 

ensure efficient registrations? Are those mutually exclusive goals? 

Can you bring them together? 

Ms. SUH. Not understanding the specifics of the situation, I 

haven’t read the National Academy of Sciences report but yes, I do 

believe that they are not mutually exclusive goals. The pursuit is 

to try to do exactly what you say in creating that balance. 

Senator FISCHER. Thank you. I think it is very, very important 

for our environment and our economy that these move forward 

quickly. 

Ms. SUH. Understood. 

Senator FISCHER. Thank you. 

Senator BOXER. Senator Boozman. 

Senator BOOZMAN. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Ms. Suh, I want to touch briefly on a couple of things that were 

mentioned when you were in the office. One of those is the national 

fish hatcheries and how important those are in the mission of mitigation. 

The other was the Neosho Mucket and rabbitsfoot mussel, talking about dramatically increasing the critical habitat of that in Arkansas, 750 miles. Most people feel that is 38 percent in excess but 

asking for a commitment to look at these issues and as you do that 

to look at the serious consequences of listing critical habitat and 

the economic development that goes along with it. 

Senator Inhofe has a similar situation. I think if you went 

through Congress, we all would have some sort of similar things 

but this is very, very important. Make sure that it is based on 

science and common sense. 

Ms. SUH. Absolutely. I commit first and foremost to abiding by 

scientific integrity principles and abiding by the best available 

science that we have in the Federal Government. 

Specifically as it relates to the fish hatchery issue, I recognize 

the importance of those facilities in your State. I know the Fish 

and Wildlife Service has made it clear they are not closing any fish 

hatcheries in 2014. 

Again, obviously these are difficult budget times, so if confirmed, 

I look forward to working with you to try to figure out how we can 
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balance our resource constraints with the opportunities to keep 

hatcheries viable and open. 

Senator BOOZMAN. Thank you very much. 

Dr. Burke, in the spirit of good science, in May of this year I had 

the opportunity to question Dr. Collins of NIH. I asked him if taxpayers were providing money for scientific research. If they were 

publicly funded, should they have access to the materials? His answer was, ‘‘Yes, we strongly support the need for that. If the public 

has paid for the research, the public should have access to it. At 

NIH, I think it is fair to say it has taken the lead in trying to make 

sure that kind of access to information happens in a timely fashion.’’ 

I asked him if there was any reason that research would not be 

provided. One of the guys with him was head of Infection Disease 

and he said, yes. If we are working on some microbe that got loose 

or the public learned how to replicate it or whatever and it was a 

threat to the public, they probably wouldn’t do that. 

One of the problems we have had is, as we have seen the clean 

air regulations coming about, not getting access to the science that 

the regulations are based on. Can you comment as to your feeling 

about that, if that is appropriate or not appropriate? How is that 

justified? 

Mr. BURKE. Thank you for the question. I think it is an important one. As an academic scientist, we are grappling with this 

issue, particularly in the biomedical sciences. I think science has 

to be transparent and credible and to every extent possible, particularly data funded by the Federal Government, be made available for reanalysis and stimulate greater research and understanding. 

I do want to mention one caution. As a Dean at Hopkins, we are 

concerned about very personal, confidential medical records. We go 

to great lengths to protect individual personal records to some regard and where there are individual identifiers. However, I think 

there are ways to anonymize data, there are ways to make data 

more available and I agree working with the research community 

to promote much greater availability of research data. 

Senator BOOZMAN. I understand with medical data but the reality is that every other discipline in medicine—I am an optometrist by training and I go to meetings all the time and they talk 

about patients all the time. They don’t say who they are but they 

talk about specific patients with specific problems and studies 

based on specific patients with specific problems. 

The idea that the data cannot be released because you cannot figure out a way to redact that or make it such that you are not providing those protections just doesn’t make sense to me. 

Mr. BURKE. I know being a member of the academic community, 

we are making great strides in doing just that to make the data 

available wherever possible. 

Senator BOOZMAN. So you will work with us to make sure that 

data you use to make decisions, we will get the data? 

Mr. BURKE. If confirmed, I look forward to working on that issue 

and working toward making data much more widely available. 

Senator BOOZMAN. Again, as a very prominent scientist, you certainly understand the importance of that. You mention your friends 
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who suffered injuries and things but when you are dealing with 

making such significant findings that affect the public, how can 

Congress do that if they don’t have access to the data or if the rest 

of the scientific community cannot have access to the data to make 

sure it is good data? 

Mr. BURKE. I agree with you but I also feel that there are laws 

to protect the individual but I think we can achieve a balance. 

Senator BOOZMAN. Thank you. I understand totally. I guess the 

problem is that everyone else has been able to figure out how to 

do this except for EPA. 

Mr. BURKE. If confirmed, I would be very happy to look into that 

and to work with EPA so that we can make data more greatly 

available. 

Senator BOOZMAN. Thank you. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Senator BOXER. Thank you, Senator. I look forward to working 

with you on that. 

I want to thank the panel very much. We have asked you a number of questions and will keep the record open for more than 2 

weeks, until January 4. Do you each commit to answer those written questions and get them back to us by January 4, a little more 

than 2 weeks? Two weeks falls on New Year’s Eve and I didn’t 

want to think about you sitting there writing answers on New 

Year’s Eve. Would you commit to answering them? I have a number myself. Is that all right? 

[All nominees respond in the affirmative.] 

Senator VITTER. Madam Chair, I had understood we would have 

a second round. 

Senator BOXER. I don’t need a second round but go ahead. 

Senator VITTER. Thank you. 

First, I would like unanimous consent to put into the record the 

full written statement of Jonathan Turley we discussed a while 

ago. 

Senator BOXER. Sure. 

[The referenced information follows:] 
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Senator VITTER. That will underscore that I quoted it completely 

accurately and in the proper context. There is no narrow context 

in which it was given. 

My questions in the second round are for Dr. Burke. I really 

share a lot of the concerns about sound science that we have talked 

about. I have been involved in that in a lot of different contexts including the NAS recommendations, recommendations on formaldehyde. Do you think congressional oversight in this area including 

that instance but others has been helpful in improving EPA’s 

science? 

Mr. BURKE. Senator, I think you and I share the same goals in 

improving EPA’s science. As a member of the National Academy 

panels and the chair of a major panel, I am very aware of your 

work to promote better science and of the tremendous positive impacts of the formaldehyde report on changing the way EPA conducts their risk analysis for their IRIS reports. We agree. 

Senator VITTER. I appreciate hearing that. Will you commit specifically to helping work to implement those NAS recommendations 

with regard to how EPA approaches its scientific work in general? 

Mr. BURKE. If confirmed, I look forward to that. 

Senator VITTER. As you can tell from some of my colleagues’ comments, we think a particularly important example of how science 

can be used or abused is the ongoing debate about fracking. Would 

you commit in particular to help apply NAS and other sound recommendations regarding the right way to do sound science to any 

science with regard to fracking at EPA? 

Mr. BURKE. Yes, Senator. 

Senator VITTER. I also completely share the comments of my colleague from Arkansas about data transparency. I don’t think anybody wants to disclose private identifiers or private health or medical information but I believe in virtually every case involved in 

these studies there is a way to mask that sort of identifying information and therefore have the best of both worlds, absolutely 

maintain the privacy of any individual patient and release the data 

underlying proposed regulations scrubbed of those identifiers. 

Am I missing something or do you largely agree with that? 

Mr. BURKE. I largely agree with it but I want to talk a little bit 

from personal experience because even right here in Washington, 

DC, I have done community level studies. I just want to give you 

an example. 

I mentioned I did childhood cancer clusters. Sometimes when we 

are working in a small community with very small numbers, it is 

very difficult to make everything available because we wouldn’t 

want to violate an individual child’s right of privacy about their 

disease or a family’s confidentiality. There are always measures 

that we take to protect that individual. 

For the large part, I absolutely agree with you. We can do a 

much better job in making scientific data available from our research studies. 

Senator VITTER. Great. In reaction to this discussion we have 

had for a couple of years now, President Obama actually on May 

9 of this year, issued his Open Data Executive Order that instructs 

Federal agencies to make that data public after it scrubs it of per-
155 

sonal identifiers. Are you aware of that Executive Order and do you 

agree with that? 

Mr. BURKE. Although I don’t know the specific details of that, I 

know that is the direction the Administration is moving. I look forward to participating in that and working with other members of 

the Administration, if confirmed, and also my colleagues in the scientific community to make progress in that area. 

Senator VITTER. Thank you very much. 

Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Senator BOXER. This is really good that you got the whole thing 

here with the paper and all the cites because the only two cites I 

have come across on the two issues is Defense of Marriage Act and 

Immigration but I think maybe there is something about Environment in here. I haven’t seen it so I look forward to reading the entire thing. 

Senator VITTER. We can continue this debate whenever you like. 

My point is he was making statements in a broad context and that 

was certainly not a criticism from the Left. He says in this he actually agrees with a lot of the policies like the immigration policies, 

like the policies behind non-enforcement of the Defense of Marriage 

Act, but he disagrees with the Administration going beyond its authority. 

Senator BOXER. I understand but I found it fascinating that the 

only cases I saw as I looked at all the background which you are 

putting in the record, which I will have my counsel do a better job 

than I did, a cursory review, is the backup papers because he is 

very general. He calls it the [unintelligible] presidency and all that 

but then he cites gay rights and immigration and says that the 

President is harming those issues. It is really interesting to read 

but sometimes the far Left and the far Right come together. 

Here is the thing. I went back because Senator Vitter has every 

right to criticize me as Chairman for putting too many people here 

in front of us. I went back and I thanked Senator Inhofe for recalling that he did have one time where he had seven people in a row. 

Actually, it happened twice and I am going to put in the record 

those examples—one in 2005, one in 2006 and then another where 

there were five people in 2005. 

[The referenced information was not received at time of print.] 

Senator BOXER. It is just not true and having four people here, 

I think is quite manageable. I think we are astute enough to question each and every one of you. 

I just want to say in closing I am sorry that you saw some tensions here but that is the way it is. That is what democracy is. The 

minority has every right to complain and the majority has every 

right to defend themselves and the way they conduct business. 

We are also going to produce for the record the number of hearings we have held since President Obama came into office comparing it to when President Bush was in office because I think it 

is important what we are hearing here constantly, that this Committee is not looking at the issues. It simply isn’t true. What you 

will find is we have done much more. 

The facts are stubborn things but they will be put in the record. 

[The referenced information was not received at time of print.] 
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Senator BOXER. I want to thank each and every one of you. It 

is a sacrifice, it is, to put yourself before the questioners and it is 

a sacrifice for your families to have to hear questions that are 

sometimes less than flattering but I got to tell you, it is worth it 

and I have a great feeling about each and every one of you because 

you all are so very qualified. 

I personally, and I know all of us are, grateful to you for putting 

yourselves out there. 

I have a number of questions. Please get your answers to the 

questions by January 4 and I look forward to moving your nominations expeditiously. 

Thank you very much. 

Senator VITTER. Madam Chairman, if I could respond to some of 

your latter comments? 

Senator BOXER. We stand adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 4:24 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

[An additional statement submitted for the record follows:] 

STATEMENT OF HON. THOMAS R. CARPER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF DELAWARE

Before I begin, I would like to warmly welcome all of our nominees to today’s 

hearing and thank you for willingness to serve and go through the nomination process. As Chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, I 

know how time consuming the nomination process can be for not only the nominee, 

but also the Committee. That’s why I would also like to thank the Madam Chairman for her tireless work to move the nominees in our Committee’s jurisdiction— 

like the ones before us today—forward in a timely fashion. 

Today’s hearing highlights the fact that we are lacking critical leadership in numerous positions in just about every agency, undermining the effectiveness of our 

Government. This has been a problem that has plagued the executive branch 

through both Democratic and Republican administrations—a problem so prevalent 

that I’ve started referring to it as ‘‘executive branch Swiss cheese.’’ While Congress 

and the Administration have taken steps to address this problem, the fact remains 

that we still have more work to do to ensure that we have talented people in place 

to make critical decisions. 

That’s one of the reasons why today’s confirmation hearing is so important. I believe all of the nominees before us are extremely qualified and look forward to working with all of them in their respective agencies if confirmed. 

I especially look forward to working with Ms. Rhea Sun Suh, who, if confirmed, 

will oversee two very important divisions within the Department of Interior—the 

Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service. Wildlife conservation is 

important to me and to all Delawareans, and we’ve been particularly thankful to 

the Fish and Wildlife Service for undertaking extensive plans to overhaul Prime 

Hook National Wildlife Refuge. 

The dynamic environment within the Refuge and the wildlife that depend on this 

habitat are extremely vulnerable to rising seas and coastal storms and have been 

badly damaged by coastal storms in recent years. Along with the rest of our Delegation and Governor Markell, I will look forward to continuing our close relationship 

with the Fish and Wildlife Service—and working with Ms. Suh if confirmed—as we 

implement the Refuge’s new Conservation Plan. 

And if confirmed, Ms. Suh will also be working with Director Jon Jarvis to oversee the National Park Service—which, as many of you know, is of most interest to 

me. After a 10-year effort, Delaware finally became part of the National Park System in April of this year with the designation of the First State National Monument. 

Director Jarvis has already assigned a superintendent to the First State National 

Monument—Delaware native Mr. Russ Smith. Mr. Smith has already hit the ground 

running; I do not believe there could have been a better choice for our first superintendent. 

If confirmed, Ms. Suh, I look forward to working with you to ensure the First 

State National Monument is another success story of the National Park System despite the limited budgets. I also plan on continuing legislative efforts to authorize 
157 

a national park in place of the national monument—and look forward to working 

with you on these efforts. 

Thank you again to Ms. Suh and the other nominees before us today. 

Æ