20 



Mr. DeFazio. I thank the gentleman. 



I would like to recognize two of my colleagues, one member of the 

 committee, Mr. Smith from Oregon, has come in, and we want to 

 find out if he has any opening remarks before proceeding to ques- 

 tions. 



STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT F. (BOB) SMITH 



Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am a little late, I apolo- 

 gize. I do have a statement for the record. 

 [Prepared statement of Mr. Smith follows:] 



Prepared Statement of Congressman Robert F. (Bob) Smith 



Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing today on the proposal to allow 

 BPA to buy out its appropriated debt on the private market. This is a very timely 

 hearing considering that the administration has sent up legislative language that 

 will allow the debt buyout to occur. t i i 



I have had the opportunity to discuss this matter with Randy Hardy, but I look 

 forward to hearing more about the impact of this plan on Northwest ratepayers. 

 One thing is certain, it's imperative that this plan is rate neutral. This Administra- 

 tion has done enough damage to the natural resource-based economy of my district. 

 It cannot survive another hit that would result from repayment acceleration. 



On this issue of government corporation status for Bonneville, I believe that any 

 proposal that makes BPA more Uke a business should be given serious consider- 

 ation. I am interested to hear the testimony today on how this idea could streamline 

 the operations of Bonneville. 



Mr. Chairman, thank you for scheduling this hearing and let me close by saying 

 that I have enjoyed working with you on this task force. 



Mr. DeFazio. We will certainly enter that into the record. And 

 we have a colleague from Washington State who has joined us, 

 who, although not a member of the committee, has shown a strong 

 interest and attended previous hearings of the task force. As I un- 

 derstand it, he perhaps has a longstanding relationship with one 

 of the two witnesses. I recognize him for any statement he would 

 like to make. 



STATEMENT OF HON. MHOS KREIDLER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN 

 CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WASHINGTON 



Mr. Kreidler. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I too have 

 an opening statement that I would like to have entered into the 

 record, and I particularly welcome Ted Bottiger. We have known 

 each other for about 20 years— that goes back a long way. In fact, 

 we served in the Washington State Senate together. 



[Prepared statement of Mr. Kreidler follows:] 



Prepared Statement of Congressman Mike Kreidler 



First I'd like to thank Mr. DeFazio for allowing me to sit in on this hearing. He 

 has been very willing to include non-committee members who have a stake in Bon- 

 neville reform. 



It is very exciting to be in Congress at a time when reform is being seriously con- 

 sidered. The issues of today's hearing, buyout of debt and the government corpora- 

 tion concept, get to the heart of questions about what Bonneville should look like 

 in the future. 



Regarding the buyout of Bonneville's debt, I agree that now is the right time for 

 this to take place — especially given the favorable interest rates and terms that are 

 available. 



I have not made up my mind as certainly on the concept of turning Bonneville 

 into a government corporation. I am, of course, interested in any proposal that could 

 save money, increase customer service, and provide more flexibility. On the other 



