Political Quotes

“Representative Tonko, thank you once again for being both eloquent and right on the target of the issue that's out before us. When you talk about the nature of the spill, this map is a recent one from the US Geological Survey and NOAA--actually, NOAA. And if you look at the size of that spill, it looks like it's getting about the same size as Louisiana itself, and of course, the Gulf Coast along here is seriously threatened and the extraordinary wildlife and habitat of the Mississippi Delta is at risk and already seriously hurt by it. You mentioned BP--and maybe, maybe, but I'm not convinced that BP has actually gotten the message that their first task is to clean up. Their $50 million PR campaign, I've seen some of the ads. If they had spent that $50 million on the proper blowout protector and actually had put in the most modern protection at the well head and not cut the corners, as is becoming increasingly obvious, in the drilling techniques and in securing the well itself, they wouldn't have to be spending multiple billions of dollars cleaning up. They absolutely must put that money into a trust fund. BP is not to be trusted to adequately distribute that money to the people that have been harmed. So the President is right. Create the trust fund. Put an independent party in charge of it and let the money go to those that have been seriously harmed by this, as well as the wildlife and the damages there.…”