merkley: thank you, senator carper. senator mullin? senator mullin: make me nervous and my wife is gonna watch my hearings. uh she would, she would scold me and correct me all the time. i love her though, deeply. so, for watching, i've been the best 26 years of my life, babe. um so, i had to put that out there. wow, i got myself in trouble. so, uh anyways, thank you guys for being here. uh i'm sorry, i came in a little late and i had an opening statement to thank you guys for taking the time, a time out of your busy schedule to inform congress. i think we can all say that, uh you know, the desirable outcome is not to have uh microplastics in our water, right? and, and that's what we would love to have. but at the same time when we're starting to look at these studies, we always say as, as you know, appear, all the science and science always changes uh as a as a licensed operator to uh operate waste and uh and uh drinking water facilities. um i understand the challenges that our municipalities have to meet today's regulations which is v

yeah, there's been talk of adding conditions to future aid carper's. catherine heenan is live in the newsroom with more on this politics. shocking. yeah. well, not that shocking are here, right? all right. with donald trump about to take office, a group of house republicans and the president elect. >> have been talking about time. wildfire aid to certain conditions. it was the subject of conversation, for example, at mar-a-lago sunday night. what happens tomorrow, although some tension just monologue. california senator alex padilla does not like the republican rumblings he's been hearing about future wildfire age of california. we've had disasters over the years and united states of america, every region of the country has been impacted. >> at one time or another and never has been come with strings attached or been conditional. leading republicans have been suggesting that california fix certain policies in exchange for billions of dollars in federal aid. they criticize democratic leaders on policies involving forest and water management. for example

yeah, there's been talk of adding conditions to future aid carper's.herine heenan is live in the newsroom with more on this politics. shocking. yeah. well, not that shocking are here, right? all right. with donald trump about to take office, a group of house republicans and the president elect. >> have been talking about time. wildfire aid to certain conditions. it was the subject of conversation, for example, at mar-a-lago sunday night. what happens

we're going to start with chair of environment and public works, senator carper. thanks. thanks so much, mr chairman. >> welcome one and all. i'm going to ask the first question. i just want to give you really short answers. ok. and we'll start with you dr brand here you mentioned. i think in your written testimony that the us has the highest prevalence microfibre in our drinking water compared to any other nation. that's pretty amazing. why is that just very briefly? why is that? >> that's a really good question. it may in part be because we buy an incredible amount of clothing and a lot of this clothing is generated by companies that promote fast fashion. and so there have been studies showing that our consumption of clothing has increased rapidly over the past 5 to 10 years and that that could be contributing. but i don't think the exact cause is if we just buy less clothing, we could maybe make it, make a difference here. what do you think? >> i like others. i say that with tongue in cheek. next question. in addition to our retrofitting technologies in our washing mac

democrat senator tom carper from delaware joe biden's buddy.tried to hide it then was forced to admit it "did as let my wife 20 years ago? yes do i regret it? yes what i do it again? no. " so if you are a u.s. senator it's not really the same. timken was almost vp he was hillary's vp and waged war against dozens of women who accused her husband. then he went after pete's character. lesson. >> you had just fathered a child two months before by woman who is not your wife can you so casually cheat on a second wife and cheat on the mother of the file does child born two months before. >> senator her name is gwendolyn holt and she is seven years old. >> you cheated on the mother of that child less than two months after she was born didn't you? >> those were false charges. >> if infidelity is a crime you'd have to to put everyone in d.c. and prison. it wasn't that long ago democrats were telling the government to get out of our bedrooms. now he wants to get inside of pete's and have a little look-see? didn't the democrats say your private live has no

because he served years in the senate, next to a guy who slapped his wife around, democrat senator tom carperm delaware, joe biden's buddy coldcocked his spouse. he tried to hide it and then was forced to admit it. quote did i slap my wife 20 years ago? yes. do i regret it? yes. would i do it again? no. so, according to tim kaine, slapping your wife's disqualifying if you're the defense secretary. but if you're a u.s. senator. not really. tim kaine was almost vp. he was hillary's vp who waged war against dozens of women who accused her husband. then kaine went after pete's character. >> listen, you had just fathered a child two months before by a woman that was not your wife. can you so casually cheat on a second wife and cheat on the mother of a child that had been born two months before senator hurt? >> the child's name is gwendolyn hope hegseth, and she's a child of god, and she's seven years old. and she was. >> and she's. you cheated on the mother of that child. less than two months after that daughter was born, didn't you? >> those were false charges. >> if infidelity is a crime, then y

senator carper and i wear different types of shoes. i wear pumps. me begin by expressing my gratitude though to the former chairman of this committee, my friend and mentor senator tom carper, for his years of faithful service, not only to this committee but also to our nation and to saving our planet. i'm proud to be able to be a member of this esteemed committee and mr. zeldin, i appreciate your visit last week. and you clearly stated in your testimony that we must ensure that we protect our environment. and in our conversation, i shared with you the rich diversity of my state from our farmers to city dwellers to our coastal communities and our environmental justice communities and why the epa is such an important and great partner to our state. i've in my time in the house prioritized clean air, clean drinking water, affordability of those things as well. and for us it's crucial that we have the best candidate for the epa administrator. so in our conversation, i was really pleased also that you earnestly acknowledged that climate change is real an

. >> senator carper you're recognized for your questions. send thank you very much and welcome mr. dejoy and their several people behind you. i don't know who's quote is in adversity lies opportunity. it's one of my guiding principals in life and diversity by the postal service there are pretend he's a well and you were trying to seize the day on some of those. their other competitors to the postal service who are in the package business and they don't deliver mail to people. you are delivering allow for packages at this level but some of those companies have decided over the last five or 10 years that they want to phase out their diesel engines than gasoline engines and have mail be delivered in vehicles that do not create greenhouse gases. they didn't make that conversion because of they were somehow concerned about the planet burning up and environmental concerns. they did it because they thought there's an economic argument and they thought that they could deliver their products in a more cost-effective way. i think when he passed the postal bill a year or two ago we tried to p

i am going to turn to questions and we are going to start with the chair of environment, senator carper. >> thank you so much. welcome, one and all. i'm going to ask the first question and i want to give you a really short answer. we will start with you, doctor. you mentioned in your written testimony that the u.s. has the highest prevalence of microfibers in drinking water compared to any other nation. that is pretty amazing. why is that? very briefly, why is that? whites that is a really good question. it may in part be because we buy an incredible amount of clothing and a lot of this clothing is generated by companies that promote fast fashion so there have been studies showing that our consumption of clothing has increased rapidly over the past five to 10 years and that could be contributing but i don't think the exact cause -- >> so if we buy less clothing, we would make a difference here? what do you think? i say that tongue-in-cheek. next question. in addition to our retrofitting technologies in washing machines to capture micro plastics from clothing, are there other innovations

senator carper and i discovered that social security would not share that information with any other department of government, so we passed a bill saying you have to share it with treasury and other people who write checks so we stop paying dead people. duh. we got pushback, believe it or not, on the bill. we had to agree to a trial period and that period ends in 2026. will you help us make that program permanent so we can stop paying dead people? mr. vought: yes, senator. sen. kennedy: now, you served in washington for years. you're going to be called, you are going to be challenging the status quo. you're going to be called crazy. many people also called noah crazy. then, the rains came. and all the fact checkers died. you have to persevere. now, i'm asking you -- i'm not asking you to get ahead of president trump, but if you were king for a day, tell me how you would save money in the federal budget without impacting the american people? mr. vought: thank you. i think it is the strategy we had in the first term which is to go really and take a close look at the agencies that are s

let me begin with the former committee, senator tom carper. and to our nation in saving our planet. i am proud to be able to be a member of the committee and mr. zeldin, appreciate your visit last week. we you clearly stated in your testimony we must ensure that we protect our environment and in our conversation i shared with you the rich diversity of my state from our farmers to citydwellers to our coastal communities and environmental justice communities and why the epa is a great partner to our state. i have prioritized clean air, clean drinking water, affordability of those things as well. it is crucial we have the best candidate for epa administrator. i was pleased that you earnestly acknowledged climate change is real and affirmatively before i got the question out said you were committed to following the science and letting that dictate the policies of the epa. as i said in my home state we feel the impact of climate every single day. as a former member of the house we talked about similarities in our district, low-lying, vulnerable to sealevel rise and critical to our coasta

carper: it's -- sen. kurtz: from the house chamber i have admired your work from a distance. on a few but very fortunate times i have had the chance to be wind at your back on some of your work, supporting taiwan and protecting hong kong distance -- dissidents as we work together on legislation. now in a twist of events i sit not far from where you once sat, and there is another symbolic six hundred feet between the state department and the senate. i'm excited to work with you in your new role, and i would like to continue to be wind at your back on issues, and none more important to me than china. if you remember nothing else about our short interchange today, please remember that is very important to me, and i hope to work with you on what i perceive to be the aggression of china in many ways. their global push for military and economic supremacy, i think, is a threat in many ways. china is imposing what they call china one principal on the world. which is very different, you know, from our china policy. can you kind of describe how we can push back on that and how need to

. >> senator carper bill. -- tibor phil. >> coach. 30 years ago i'm a young coach at texas a&m and you are student body president. mrs. rollins: we sat next to each other in lots of meetings, that's exactly right. it's an amazing world. >> congratulations, you're going to be awesome. but i don't want to sugarcoat this because my farmers back home are hurting. we are in trouble. our farmers are in trouble. small farmers are selling right and left. i got a bill on the floor about keeping foreign adversaries from buying our farmland. we are selling it right and left. but i don't blame them because they can't make a profit. properties in my state of alabama are really getting killed. the input cost was about $400 per acre. they might have gotten $100 per acre out of their crop last year. the reason we had to do a supplemental. right before christmas my phone was ringing off the wall. we've got to help our farmers but they hate handouts. they hate it because they want to do their own work. so i'm glad you understand that. income taxes, you understand. it is a dire problem. and it's not goin

carper: it's -- sen. kurtz: from the house chamber i have admired your work from a distance. on a few but very fortunate times i have had the chance to be wind at your back on some of your work, supporting taiwan and protecting hong kong distance -- dissidents as we work together on legislation. now in a twist of events i sit not far from where you once sat, and there is another symbolic six hundred feet between the state department and the senate. i'm excited to work with you in your new role, and i would like to continue to be wind at your back on issues, and none more important to me than china. if you remember nothing else about our short interchange today, please remember that is very important to me, and i hope to work with you on what i perceive to be the aggression of china in many ways. their global push for military and economic supremacy, i think, is a threat in many ways. china is imposing what they call china one principal on the world. which is very different, you know, from our china policy. can you kind of describe how we can push back on that and how need to