So oil is dispersed in larger pieces of the oil are dispersed, being much smaller, the microbes have an easier opportunity to glom on and go to lunch on the oil.

Good. I am going to ask you a couple more questions before my colleagues come back and try to take this mic away from me.

I ask unanimous consent to bring up for a vote our multi-pollutant legislation, our 3-P bill that has been awaiting action.

Despite the best efforts of our Nation's best environmental scientists--some of whom are here today--to help us understand the environmental impacts of this spill, the reality is that we do not know--and we may not know for years to…

I rise today in support of Solicitor General Elena Kagan's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. I am confident that in the years to come, she will make proud the President who has nominated her as well as those of us who vote to confirm…

As this tragedy has unfolded, and we have dealt with it, and we are hearing encouraging reports in the news, with the ability to plug the leak and maybe to do so on a permanent basis, we now turn to cleaning up this mess and trying to make…

As a member from a coastal State, I understand well the importance of our shorelines to our local and national economies.

As I have mentioned before, our hearts go out to the folks impacted by this terrible accident--to the families of the 11 workers that died and those that were injured.

One of the lessons that I have learned as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, where I oversee the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is the importance of effective regulatory oversight to ensure that we avoid future…

I understand the EPA has been researching the effects of dispersants in a subsurface environment.

So when people ask me saying, what happened to all this oil, this huge amount of oil that came out of the bottom of the Gulf, and now it seems to be going away, some of it has evaporated?

Thank you for all your responses and your testimony here.

And so we must work to make sure that the laws and regulations that we have in place protect these critical industries from harm in a fair and real way.

I suggested to the fellow who--I think it was either the Acting Director of the Bureau of the Census or about to become the Director... maybe we should consider like offering a reward to people who participate in the census.

So the intelligence community said we cannot do this or this cannot be done. You did it in less than 9 hours?

The biggest gold mine in the world is between our ears.

My hope is that OMB is going to be at least from afar riding herd on this.

We are just completing our decennial census.

Your continuing championing this issue is helpful for me.

I think the Recovery Board's work has shown us or provided for us a great example of how we can leverage both of these assets to produce real results.

We do not hear that every day, do we?

This Subcommittee has fairly broad jurisdiction across a lot of different parts of our Federal Government.

Thank you, Senator McCain.

That is why over a year ago, President Obama proposed and this Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to help put Americans back to work.

we are looking for--in the Legislative Branch, we are always looking for pay-fors