On the recordSeptember 11, 2019
I was Governor of Florida in 2010 when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded off the coast of Louisiana. It killed 11 people and sent millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. I witnessed firsthand the tar balls on our beaches, the marine life drowning in oil, and the billions of dollars of economic damage inflicted on countless families and small businesses. As the largest offshore oil spill in American history, this should have been a huge wake-up call to everyone. Floridians said never again and voted almost 70 percent in the last election to ban offshore drilling because, as we learned, drilling doesn't have to take place right off our shores to upend your way of life. My amendment is simple. It reinstates two critical rules regarding offshore drilling and safety regulations, the Well Control Rule and the Production Safety Systems Rule, that were put into place after the Deepwater Horizon disaster itself. Sadly, the current administration has chosen to ignore the mistakes of our past and has, instead, weakened these rules, opening the door to self-regulation and less stringent standards. That is why my amendment codifies these rules in their previous form, reinstating critical safety requirements and reducing the risk of another tragedy. {time} 1545 I would like to thank the bipartisan cosponsors of my amendment, the Rules Committee for making the amendment in order, and the gentlewoman from California (Ms.…
