mr. lobiondo: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to particularly thank chairman oberstar for his continued leadership and for moving so very quickly on this important legislation. i'd also like to thank chairwoman eddie bernice johnson and mr. mica and mr. boozman for their help on this important issue as well. and finally, i like to thank mr. bishop for his leadership and once again allowing me to join me on an issue that we both find important and that we can make a difference with on a critical bill to keep our waters clean and to do this for future generations. as we have heard, the bill would authorize the national estuary program for another five years, allow the program to expand protections to other watersheds and provide -- and i think this is very important -- greater accountability on how taxpayer money is spent. something that we should be doing more of. the bill will improve transparency. also, something very important, by establishing periodic reviews of management plans and by requiring partners to demonstrate