Johnny Isakson

When Senator Franken was asking the question about whistle blowers, is it not, in fact, true it's against the law to fire or punish a whistle blower?

Let's learn from the past, but let's make sure it doesn't happen in the future. Let's look forward.

What do you think, Mr. Drevna?

Well, I wasn't either, until I got deep into my notes. But, that's a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision that said OSHA had jurisdiction over Coast Guard-regulated facilities like ships and vessels, as well as oil rigs.

They do have the authority to immediately mandate compliance, and they also have authority to shut down a mine.

I regret that it's necessary to call the hearing, and associate myself with your remarks with regard to the tragedy and our sympathy for the families.

Do you think there should be some sort of coordination between MMS and OSHA with regard to safety?

Well, in this particular incidence, that is an important issue, because that's where a lot of the cleanup's taking place.

Thank you for attending, today. I appreciate your work.

I have supported offshore drilling, and continue to do so. I don't want this to be what Three Mile Island was to nuclear energy.

Unfortunately, the Deepwater Horizon explosion, and the tragic loss of 11 lives and injuries of 25 people, is not the only petroleum-based disaster we have had.

That's an unsustainable track, I guess, under any circumstance.

The growth of independent contractors... is another factor that's diminishing the number of people working to produce.

I think Ms. Almquist made a good statement for all of us to adhere to.

Based on my visit to Sudan, a year ago, I have grave concerns that there's enough security, manpower, materiel, et cetera, to do the complicated security issues.

Well, given the experience we had in Iraq with the hydrocarbon law and the sharing of wealth, where you had oil in one place and recipients in another, 6 months is a short timeframe to negotiate what will happen.

What is being done now, of a preventative nature, either on hydrocarbon or the oil situation, or security?

The potential for critical problems is tremendous, but there's potential for opportunity and hope, as well.

Having visited Darfur and Sudan last year... I am aware, firsthand, of the tragedy in Darfur...

I do not argue that there are not good things in this bill. In fact, when the Senator was referring to the liar loans, it was the Isakson-Landrieu amendment that we successfully added to this bill that defined that a qualified loan is to…

We cannot have responsible reform of financial services and leave out Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. One of the reasons that, along with Senator Conrad, I created the Financial Markets Crisis Commission--which is now meeting, by the way, and…

Well, I think the operative word of what you just said is 'practicality.'

In my experience with veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, particularly those with Traumatic Brain Injury, the single biggest problem we had, which is now lessening, was they fell between the cracks between DOD and VA.

I commend Senator Isakson for his support of this initiative.

My primary research interests, as Senator Isakson pointed out, are in Traumatic Brain Injury.