Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I do reserve the right to object, and I would like to take a few minutes this afternoon to explain why I will be objecting to this unanimous consent request. I sat and listened to my three colleagues. I have great empathy for the concern they share. I share it as well. I represent a State that was devastated a little more than 20 years ago when the Exxon Valdez hit the rocks. We lived with oil on our beaches. We know the economic impact. We know the social impact that a spill can cause. We want to all be working together to ensure that whether it is the devastation we see in the hotels in Florida or whether it is the loss to the fishermen, that we ensure those who are responsible pay for the economic loss, for the damages that are incurred. We are with my colleagues on this issue. The reason I stand and object at this point in time is I do not believe that taking the amount of the liability cap from $75 million, where it is currently, to $10 billion in strict liability, 133 times the size of the current strict liability limit, is where we need to be right now. I am not just the only one who suggests that maybe we need to understand a little bit better as to how much we might need to look at raising the limit. The administration, just yesterday in their oilspill legislative package, has proposed an effort. Their proposal, would raise the caps on liability for the responsible parties.…”