Womack, Steve: The subcommittee will come to order. I.C.E. You'll have to pardon us a little bit, we're kind of running on fumes right now. Chairman Cole had us up till midnight, and I had our subcommittee up kind of early this morning, so they will earn a good rest when all is said and done. Secretary of the Department of Transportation to testify for the Fiscal 27 budget. Secretary Duffy, it's good to see you. Thank you for appearing before us today. The President's request for DOT is $26.8 billion in discretionary budget authority for Fiscal 27. This amount includes an increase for air traffic operations to continue efforts to hire controllers and other safety personnel, another installment for air traffic modernization, and new investments in ports, shipyards, and rail safety. We're going to hear a lot about that today. This is the first year without advance appropriations from the IIJA, which totaled $184 billion for the Department from 2022 to 2026. I appreciate your efforts and the efforts of your department to move things forward. Since you were in front of this subcommittee last, the obligation rate for the IIJA Division J dollars has increased from 39% to 51%. In the past year, the backlog of 3,200 grants has all but been eliminated. We appreciate that effort and would remind you of the requirements set forth in the Fiscal 26 law regarding proper execution of programs appropriated by this committee, along with new congressional notification requirements. Our hearing today serves as an example of the reciprocal relationship between this committee and the Executive Branch to ensure the appropriate resources are provided to DOT to meet our shared goals of safety, infrastructure improvements, and modernization of our transportation systems. The investments we've made together in air traffic control prove this concept. Funding to rebuild the controller workforce, combined with long overdue modernization of air traffic technologies, reflects the kind of sustained bipartisan commitment that a safety-critical mission demands. This work is far from finished, and the challenges ahead are significant. The progress we've made shows what's possible when Congress and the Department focus on common priorities and follow through with real resources. As we look to Fiscal 27, we know more needs to be done. For the seas, we need to ramp up our investments in the nation's maritime workforce and infrastructure to ensure we have the commercial competency to compete globally. This will also support our national defense capability in the Indo-Pacom region and elsewhere. For our surface transportation infrastructure, we're on the precipice of a reset following the expiration of the IIJA. How we build upon what worked and how we course-correct from those investments that were serving political pipe dreams is the key question, in my opinion, for Fiscal 27. I look forward to seeing what our authorizing counterparts put forward. They're in the process of doing that as we speak. And we stand at the ready on the Appropriations Committee to cut the check when the time comes. I should be clear, however, that this committee has the sole jurisdiction on discretionary funding. Efforts to recreate the advance appropriations of the IIJA are ill-founded and not to be contemplated without the full involvement and deliberation of this committee. The invite remains, Mr. Secretary, to come down to Arkansas' 3rd District and see how the investments of your department are flowing into communities like mine. The department is a unique department in that way, as the impact of your work is seen in every single congressional district. As such, this committee enjoys a history of bipartisanship, and I look forward to continuing as we begin the Fiscal 27 process. Speaking of which, I'd like now to recognize my dear friend and the ranking member of this subcommittee, Mr. Clyburn of South Carolina, for any opening remarks he prefers to make. I now recognize the gentleman from South Carolina for that purpose.