Political Quotes

“I thought it was important to speak briefly on my hold on Jack Lew. Jack Lew is a terrific nominee, and he has the support of many people in this body for his new position, and we are grateful to him for wanting to be the budget director for a country that has serious economic challenges. As you know, we have extremely serious economic challenges right now in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been 5 years since Katrina. Three weeks later, we had Rita, and then Gustav and Ike--four of the toughest storms the gulf coast has faced. Then a few years later, we had an oilspill, with more than 5 million barrels of oil spilled in the gulf, which was bad enough. But then this administration placed a hold--or a moratorium, if you will--on an entire industry because of that accident. It was a horrible accident, but I think to place a moratorium on an entire industry because one company and its contractors made some serious and terrible mistakes is really unprecedented, it is unwise, and it is extremely harmful to the gulf coast.”