I do have great sympathy for the desire of the people of Puerto Rico to resolve their political status.

I am deeply and profoundly disappointed and saddened that the continued denial of the consequences of the nuclear testing program continues until today.

Those principles that Jefferson, Madison, Washington fought for, that's what we want for our land--we want to command our own destiny.

I am very disappointed by the response from the Administration.

I think that that's critical.

It is for the people of Puerto Rico, including those communities in the United States, to exercise their right to self-determination--not Congress.

It's important that Congress, at the very least, give some guidance to the people of Puerto Rico.

Shouldn't Congress know whether the majority of the people of Puerto Rico consent to this arrangement?

I do agree with the Presidential Task Force Report and with the text of H.R. 2499 that there are 4 options available to Puerto Rico.

Fairness, transparency and consensus are paramount to this debate.

I think it is, particularly at this time, shortsighted of us as a Nation to even think about putting Anwar into wilderness status.

We need to pursue an understanding of how the Interior Department can rise from this tragedy and be stronger.

So, it would be your intention, then, to make sure that they have, again, what I'm calling substantial, direct, and professional experience in these various areas.

What is the threshold to certify that these operators have the necessary assets?

There's been a lot of discussion about the relationship between MMS and the oil and gas industry, as it relates to the standards and establishing the standards for operation in the Gulf.

Secretary Salazar, you are very welcome here today to help us gather answers and understand how this happened and whether the process leading up to it included failures of its own.

The collective obligations today are that BP, all those that are involved, are held responsible, held accountable.

Hearings like this one, debate, markups, floor time, and deliberation are all ingredients that lend themselves to passage of strong bipartisan legislation that can minimize unintended consequences.

I appreciate the fact that you have acknowledged that we're going to need oil from some time to come.

We've got an obligation to care for them in that manner.

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…

I do think we need to look at the liability cap and consider raising it, but I think we need to be careful about unintended consequences of picking a number, $10 billion. Let me outline what I am talking about when I say 'unintended…

I have stated that there's going to be plenty of time to try to figure out who is to blame, who is at fault.

For a blowout to occur, multiple barriers must fail or be rendered useless through human error.

So it's not just an issue of making sure that we're doing the monitoring on a regularly scheduled basis. It's making sure that we've tested all that we can possibly test?