Political Quotes

“Madam President, I am overjoyed that I have been let into this discussion considering that heavy oil is now getting into Louisiana marshland and is impacting my State and the State of Senator Landrieu more than any other in the country. It is an ongoing crisis. I would like to spend a few minutes to get us out of Washington politics and back into focus on that real and ongoing crisis. Those fishermen from south Louisiana Senator Durbin talked about, that is what they are focused on, that is what they are dealing with. Their way of life and their livelihood is absolutely threatened. That is what I would like us to focus on and deal with in a constructive way. I agree with Senator Menendez and Senator Lautenberg and others that the liability cap for economic damages which was set decades ago is way outdated. I have offered a permanent change to that to go into the future. In fact, my bill would set a cap for BP in this instance of $20 billion because it is based on the last four quarters of the responsible party's profits. For this instance, that is double the liability cap of the Menendez original bill. Talking about UCing a permanent change of the law is, quite frankly, politics. That isn't going to pass the Senate by unanimous consent. I would like my version to pass by unanimous consent. I think it is a better approach, with all due respect, than the approach of the Senator from New Jersey. It would double the cap on BP than his original version would.…”