itself. Not only can we have public/private sector partnerships, but 

 different agencies in government should work together. 



As a congressman from a coastal district, I do take this hearing 

 very seriously. I spend a lot of time in the water, in the ocean, and 

 I'm keenly aware of the importance of oceanographic research. 



I believe we can fill this need, however, without the massive in- 

 fusion of new federal funds, basically with streamlining and con- 

 solidating programs, more involvement of the private sector and 

 lowering the barriers of dual-use technology, as Chairman Weldon 

 has mentioned. 



So I applaud you, Mr. Chairman, for your dedication on this 

 issue and look forward to our two subcommittees working together 

 on this area of shared jurisdiction. 



Thank you. 



Mr. Weldon. Thank you, Mr. Rohrabacher. And as you can see, 

 we have three subcommittees, so three chairmen acting today. We 

 have three very distinguished and capable ranking members. It is 

 an extreme pleasure for me to ask for his opening comments, our 

 leading Ranking Member who is present today, who has been a dy- 

 namic leader in the Congress on environmental issues and is a 

 good friend and someone who I have the highest respect for, Mr. 

 Tim Roemer. 



Mr. Roemer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm delighted to be here. 

 My voice did not accompany me this morning, so I will be brief. I 

 will ask unanimous consent to submit my opening statement and 

 just make some brief remarks. 



First of all, I'd just like to say that we have a distinguished gath- 

 ering of our subcommittees this m.orning. In an almost historic 

 way, we have an equally distinguished panel that I am very much 

 looking forward to hearing your expertise and your testimony on 

 some very important subjects here this morning. 



As we talk in the United States Government today. Democrats 

 and Republicans, about downsizing government and balancing the 

 budget, both of which I support, the question becomes not when we 

 do it, but how we do it, and how we include the expertise of people 

 at this panel to help us make some very difficult decisions about 

 some very important research that is going on in our oceans. 



Now just as we've just gleaned tremendous results and successes 

 from the Galileo and Hubble experiments in space, I think we have 

 equally spectacular possibilities of success in our oceans. 



So I'm hopeful that we can do this in a cooperative way, a way 

 by which we enhance our ability to glean resources together in the 

 most efficient manner, that we have possibilities to put our re- 

 sources together in such capital funding areas which are so expen- 

 sive for satellites and ocean vessels, which will need cooperation 

 between our different agencies if we're going to see cuts, that we 

 see a prudent policy put forward in terms of declassification of in- 

 formation, and that we also see a coordination not just of our com- 

 mittees here this morning, but of our agencies out there rep- 

 resented by this distinguished panel. 



I'm very excited about the possibilities here this morning, about 

 the information that we'll glean from this panel, and I hope that 

 we will take to hear your information and not just set arbitrary 

 levels to cut at 25 or 33 or 40 percent, but find v.ays by which we 



