Mr. President, the Senator is aware that all 59 Democrats support Main Street, and we have been joined by the Senator from Florida, Mr. LeMieux. This is the LeMieux-Landrieu-Merkley- Cantwell-Boxer amendment. We will be joined by others…

I am just to speak for 1 minute now and turn it over to the good Senator from Oregon, who will speak for a few minutes on this subject, and then the Senator from Washington State, as we wait for the underlying paperwork that is going to…

I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes as in morning business. I may ask to extend my time. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

I guess. And you know what? There are going to be a lot of books written about this, and that was one of the things that I can't wait to find out in the book, is how we never found that, why no one just simply said, 'Do that.'

My guess is before this is over, they're going to have to figure out a way to keep BP viable enough to continue to pay this stuff off, because it's going to be an awful lot of money that they're going to owe.

Mr. Speaker, while the unemployment rate is 9.5 percent and while the gulf coast continues to recover from a devastating oil spill, the people of Louisiana are wondering what they did to deserve President Obama's moratorium on jobs…

Yes, this is -- this is going to be for the rest of my days and for a long time to come after that.

If they can clean some of this stuff up with science, you know, technology, people think of things. And we may be able to do this and do a very good job, but we'll still be living with it.

I think it's unbelievable that we never got the instrumentation on there. And the comical thing is, is that BP said they really didn't care what the flow rate was. Of course they cared.

If the weather holds, it's possible this weekend they could do the static kill and once and for all kill this -- this well.

If you -- if it was $4,300 a barrel, and what most people believe is something between 75,000 to 100,000 barrels a day for, what, 90 days or something like that? Well, of course it's in their interest.

It's going to be -- look at what happened at the Exxon Valdez. This is a much worse spill and much more environmentally sensitive area, affecting much more people.

Mr. President, I wish to speak for about 5 or 10 minutes--not very long--about an important matter before the Senate. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Samantha Seiter be granted the privilege of the floor for the debate on the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. ____________________

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The Senator from Louisiana.

Mr. President, I am going to read a few of these organizations into the Record at this time. This is a very market- based, private-sector approach to solving this problem, and that is why the American Apparel & Footwear Association, the…

Mr. President, I thank my colleague, and let me add a few words to that wonderful explanation. Again, what we are on the floor talking about here--the jobs 3 bill, the small business bill--is a lending program for small business. This is…

Mr. President, I am joined by my colleague from Oregon, Mr. Merkley, who has been a wonderful supporter of the small business package and as a member of the Banking Committee has been very instrumental in the shaping of the jobs bill 3…