Political Quotes

“let me begin by thanking the almost 15 Members of this body who have been working on this very important legislation for almost 2 years, since the Deepwater Horizon tragedy. I particularly want to thank Senator Shelby, who has been the lead on the Republican side, for cosponsoring this important and significant environmental and economic recovery of the gulf coast. We could not have done it without Senator Vitter and Senator Sessions, who were on the authorizing committee where this bill came out with almost unanimous support. I think we didn't get two votes in the committee. Everyone else, Republican and Democrat, was supportive. I particularly thank Senator Whitehouse, who led the effort on the Democratic side, as we have shaped, with his help, for the gulf coast, which is represented in this bill, a way to invest in our oceans by smartly using some of the interest earnings. Of course, we would not be here on the floor without the extraordinary leadership of Senator Boxer from California, whose coast gets virtually no benefit from the RESTORE Act as it was originally introduced, but she was willing to step up because she knows how important the gulf coast is to the United States. Let me first remind people what this accident looked like.…”