Bill Nelson

Back to the hotels. In your experience in Connecticut, this is not fleabag motels. We are talking about high-end hotels as well.

I was wondering how best to reach young girls.

Florida is blessed to be a destination State... Unfortunately, Florida also draws visitors for a far less attractive reason: child sex trafficking.

This is an important coastal protection zone, if you will, for storms for people who live further inland.

This is most enlightening testimony. It is necessary testimony as we implement the RESTORE Act to try to get to, ultimately, restoration of the Gulf.

I would expect that we will continue to see a negative impact from the oil on the food chain and on animals and people for years to come.

So when you combine the dead zone with what is already going on because of the oil that came into the bays like Barataria, then you have a double problem.

How big is that dead zone out in the Gulf?

It was through the leadership of Senator Bill Nelson and other Gulf state Senators that this historic legislation was passed.

I would be remiss if I let another moment go by without giving our sincere appreciation to congress for passing the RESTORE Act.

Thank you, Senator Wicker.

We have shared some of these concerns with the Department of Commerce staff and Senator Nelson's office.

It is because of the opportunity created by the RESTORE Act that Florida has taken the unique approach of forming the Gulf Consortium.

However, three years later, the Gulf has seen only 7 percent of the early restoration monies.

To ask Jack Lew to get off of dead-center and get those requirements that are the responsibility of Treasury under way.

Three years ago, we were in the middle of the worst man-made environmental disaster in our Nation's history--the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform.

Remember what Senator Landrieu said; this thing was a balancing of competing interests.

I was proud to help author and vote for that legislation.

Thank you, Senator Landrieu. And, again, it is obvious, your leadership, by virtue of what you have just said.

I want to forgo any opening statements so that we can accommodate her need to get back to the floor.

The meeting will come to order. And it looks like it is very much in order.

We need to ensure that we are doing everything we can to protect our coastal ecosystems.

We apologize for the late start. We just completed three votes.

Now we have the chance to set things right. Under the RESTORE Act, we can reinvest in nature to ensure the recovery of the Gulf of Mexico.

Thank you for convening this hearing and for stimulating thoughtful dialogue that can lead to collaborative and productive implementation of the RESTORE Act.