Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am delighted to be here today to   present the President's budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency for Fiscal Year 2000.

Accompanying me today are many of the Senior Managers at the Agency, including the Agency's Chief Financial Officer, Sallyanne Harper, beside me at the table.

We at EPA are very proud that Sallyanne Harper has won a prestigious award from the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program. The 1998 Donald L. Scantlebury Award recognizes senior financial managers who have been responsible for significant economies, efficiencies, and improvements in federal, state, or local government. Sallyanne Harper has done a great job for us at EPA, and I ask you to me in congratulating her.

I would like to begin by thanking you, Mr. Chairman, and all the members of this distinguished Committee for your support over these past few years. You have done a great deal to create a productive working relationship with the Environmental Protection Agency. With your leadership, we have been able to work together toward our mutual goal of protecting public health and the environment. And our achievements are truly impressive. To cite just a few examples:

This year, thanks to your work on the Safe Drinking Water Amendments of 1996, 86 percent of the American population will receive drinking water that meet all health-based standards in effect since 1994.

Because of the support of this Committee, and particularly the actions of Mr. Bond, we have successfully addressed 50% of the 111 key action items in the Clean Water Action Plan and will soon announce a joint strategy with USDA to protect waterways from polluted runoff.

585 Superfund toxic waste sites have been cleaned up, as of the end of 1998, and an additional 85 construction completions will occur in 1999. 227 communities have benefited from grants to revitalize urban brownfields, leveraging over $1 billion in private investments.

Thanks to this Committee's efforts to pass the Clean Air Act, approximately 164 million Americans are breathing cleaner air today.

I look forward to what we can achieve in the future with your continued cooperation. Importantly, I look forward to the Committee's expeditious approval of the   President's nominees for General Counsel and Assistant Administrator for Superfund.

Our $7.2 billion budget request for FY 2000 continues the President's efforts to build strong, healthy communities for the 21st Century by protecting public health and the environment.

This request is based on what this Administration and this Committee have proved time and time again -- the environment and the economy go hand in hand. They are inextricably linked.

Today, we have some of the toughest environmental and public health protections in the world, and our economy is not only strong -- it is soaring. In 1992, this nation had a record high $290 billion deficit. This year, we expect a $79 billion budget surplus.

Building on the success that we have achieved together, the Clinton-Gore 2000 budget aims to meet the environmental challenges of the coming century. This budget recognizes what all of us know: that protecting our environment is about more than beautiful vistas and scenic rivers, and it's about more than passing new environmental and public health laws.

This budget is about neighborhoods, protecting where we live, how we live, and what we do in everyday life. It's about communities -- and how we keep them healthy, strong, and prosperous.

I particularly want to highlight three landmark initiatives in this budget that will allow us to continue our mutual commitment to America's communities. These three initiatives will provide communities with significant new financial tools, giving them the flexibility they need to address their most pressing environmental and public health needs. They tap into our nation's greatest resources -- our ingenuity and our spirit of collaboration. And they protect our most precious resource -- our children.

First, the President and Vice President have announced a new Livability Agenda to help communities grow in ways that ensure a high quality of life and strong, sustainable economic growth. A key element of the Livability Agenda is a new, innovative financing tool called Better America Bonds.

In the tradition of our brownfields urban revitalization program, Better America Bonds would allow communities across the country to set their own priorities in addressing issues associated with rapid growth. This is about flexibility. They decide for themselves how they will preserve their open spaces, protect their drinking water, revitalize their blighted urban areas, and improve their quality of life.

The Administration is proposing $9.5 billion in bond authority over five years for investment by state, local, and tribal governments. For Fiscal Year 2000, we are requesting $1.9 billion in bond authority. I urge Congress to work with us to give local communities this flexibility to address their most urgent environmental needs.

Second, the President's budget includes $200 million for the Clean Air Partnership Fund -- another new tool to help communities get the job done. It will promote cost-effective, innovative technology to help communities reduce soot, smog, toxic air pollution, and greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. This program will finance public-private partnerships that are locally-managed and self-supporting -- to help America's communities achieve cleaner air.

Third, EPA will take a leading role in the Administration's important effort to fight the growing problem of childhood asthma. Five million children suffer from this debilitating disease, and the incidence is rising. This budget includes $22.2 million for education, outreach, and monitoring to reduce children's exposure to environmental toxins that can exacerbate asthma. An additional $12.3 million will address other chronic childhood ailments, such as cancer and developmental disorders.

In addition to these three new initiatives, the President's budget continues our work on other environmental and public health priorities.

To continue our progress in restoring our nation's rivers, lakes, and coastal waters, this budget allocates $651 million for the President's Clean Water Action Plan.

To help build drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities in communities across our country, it provides $1.6 billion for state revolving fund programs.

To help communities address the pressing problem of polluted runoff, it proposes an important, new,  flexible funding mechanism, which would allow the states to use up to 20% of their Clean Water SRF funds, or as much as $160 million in FY 2000, as grants for non-point source projects, estuary management and other innovative water quality projects.

To continue to clean up toxic waste sites and blighted urban areas, it invests $1.5 billion in Superfund, of which almost $92 million will go directly to communities to revitalize brownfields.

To help reduce the pollution that causes global warming, the President's budget invests $216 million at EPA and $1.8 billion government-wide. With this budget, we promote voluntary reductions in energy use, provide tax credits for consumers, and fund research on energy-efficient technologies.

Of special importance in this budget proposal is our request to increase the Agency's Operating Programs by five percent over the level enacted in FY 99. The Operating Programs represent the backbone of our efforts to protect public health and our environment through sound science, strong public health standards, and tough enforcement. They include our Chemical Right-to-Know Initiative, research on current and future environmental hazards and strategies, and our program to reduce the risk of toxic air pollution.

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, all of us believe that a strong and healthy America depends on strong and healthy communities. That is what this budget is all about -- continuing the progress we have achieved together, by building the communities of the future through strong partnerships, tough standards, and innovative, common-sense, and cost-effective strategies -- to ensure a strong economy and a healthy environment. It's a budget of the future, for the America of the future.

Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working with you and will be happy to answer any questions.  Thank you.