I think that question is very much on point to one of the major factors that we need to address in this nation, this country.

Thank you, Chairman Thune, thank you in particular for your deep interest in freight rail issues both in South Dakota and throughout the nation.

Railroads and ports, they're quite important to this country and the demand for rail service is growing by leaps and bounds.

Mr. President, if the Senator from Iowa is intending to speak, this Senator will only use about 5 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, I wish to embrace this package that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has brought forth to the floor. First, it is much needed bipartisanship which has been shown on the committee. That is a very good thing, given the…

I will be filing some legislation tomorrow that I will announce later that would ensure that NOAA and the Coast Guard have the tools to prepare and respond for the next marine oil spill.

I will just say in closing that we had to raise cain to get the pictures 5,000 feet below.

Were we not lucky that the loop current did not catch the oil and take it south and around the Florida Keys and up the southeast coast of Florida?

As we are researching in the future to try to determine the health of the Gulf as a result of this four to five million barrels of oil spill, what are we going to look for other than the obvious, the food chain, the critters?

This matter is very personal to me. Those of us on the Gulf lived through this.

Mr. President, in a few minutes, we are going to vote on the confirmation of Dava Newman, the nominee for Deputy Administrator of NASA. This little Agency happens to be one that I have some personal fondness for, having participated with…