On the recordMay 25, 2010
I wanted to tell the Senator from Louisiana, because we had an opportunity yesterday when we went to his home State, traveled there with the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Homeland Security, we saw the spill from the air. We were at Port Fourchon. We heard the testimony from fishermen. We heard the testimony from those who are in the charter business. We heard testimony from the oystermen. We heard from parish mayors and heard their concerns about what will happen to them, their futures, their economic futures and that of their families. The concerns that were raised, of course, were that they be fully and fairly compensated. Is it the Senator's intention, then, that the statements that have been made by the executives from British Petroleum, the sworn testimonies we have had in the Energy Committee, and I know they have testified in other committees, that the commitments from British Petroleum would be codified as waivers of the liability caps which the Senators from New Jersey have talked about? Is it correct, then, that it is the intention of the Senator from Louisiana that these commitments would then be made enforceable under law so that the heart of this debate is understandably about not whether BP will pay but how long it will take for the victims to be compensated?
