I thank the gentleman. We have lost 12 rigs so far to such countries as Nigeria, Egypt, the Congo, and Brazil, and guess who we just gave $2 billion to drill oil? Brazil, of all places. So we gave them the rig, we gave them the money so…

I thank the gentleman. I wanted to respond to a couple of things from the other side. First of all, Mr. Landry and I are both from Louisiana. We are not potted plants. We are actually from a State that is on the coast. In fact, Mr. Landry…

Mr. Speaker, I have said many times on this floor and in meetings with constituents, this country does not have an energy strategy, and the only thing worse than not having an energy strategy is having bad energy policy. Yet the answer…

Now, it's also been suggested, Well, perhaps we should punish these evil oil companies by taxing them. Mr. Chairman, who pays the taxes? It's the consumers. It's the American people. You add a 10 percent tax to oil exploration or gasoline…

Rarely are the goals of our country as aligned as they are now. Clearly we need economic recovery with good jobs and with good benefits for those who frankly right now have a problem with unemployment. As it turns out, we also have the…

So what we have seen since, though, is not a recommendation that the President's blue ribbon commission is right, but rather a regulatory hurdle set upon regulatory hurdle set upon regulatory hurdle. Now we have a notice to lessees which…

the average age of a Coast Guard ship is 40. Is that correct?

Coast Guard policy requires an incident-specific preparedness review to assess lessons learned from major oil spills.

I think, the majority of the Members of the Senate--maybe not everyone, but the majority--to get deepwater drilling back up and operational in the Gulf of Mexico as soon as possible.

I'm concerned about the increased reliance by these major drug dealers to basically build their own submarines.

I'm so glad you mentioned that, Admiral. Because I was recently down in Guatemala on a trip focused on another issue, but took the opportunity to get a security briefing by our Embassy, and this is exactly what they were talking about.

Thank you, Admiral.

Getting the right intelligence before they leave the ports or intercepting them well before they get into our ports is a smart strategy.

When will you have that report to us? Do you think it will be 30 or 60 days in time for us to consider it in this budget cycle?

Thank you, Admiral. And again, thank you for your testimony today, for your forthrightness, for asking for what you really need.

I helped to lead the effort to privatize the Army housing, which has been really successful with the family housing.

I think we're about complete. If you all would just be patient, one more question from me, then we're going to end the meeting.

we had to change the paradigm. And this private housing has been phenomenally successful.