I am going to request acceleration of revenue-sharing today.

These are Federal resources. There's no doubt. This oil was 50 miles off the shore of Louisiana.

Is it riskier to import 100 percent of our oil, because we're importing close to 70 percent, or is it less risky to try to drill more safely at home?

The people of the Gulf Coast appreciate that.

The people of Louisiana that support this industry, support this initiative off of our coast, we most certainly want it to be safe and more secure.

The people of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast want to know and have confidence that BP is going to do everything that they are required to under the law, and more, to pay for any damage to individuals, to businesses, et cetera.

I also want to compliment you and the President for not running and hiding, for not retreating, and for restating the importance of this country continuing to press forward to identify the resources necessary for our economy to function…

You have taken the measured and right approach, in my opinion, to stop all permitting until a significant investigation can take place, and then find a way to move forward.

The right to produce is not the right to pollute.

I am assuming that BP is going to step up, as they have said, and cover all of these costs.

We are prepared, they say, to pay above $75 million on these claims, and we will not seek reimbursement from the U.S. Government or the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

I support the President's 30-day look. I most certainly support tighter controls over deep-water wells.

It is important that we get this right because it has a major impact on how these wells are drilled around the world.

I hope that we will get answers to the questions that you asked in your opening statement, and I thought that they were excellent and right on point.

I hold the Federal Government responsible for continuing to issue permits for deep-water drilling without demanding that the companies who receive those permits be prepared to deal with the effects of an accident.

I think, for us to try to be as clear as we can be about how people might actually receive assistance.

I thank my colleague, Senator Snowe, who chaired the Small Business Committee for many years, for her dogged determination to make sure the language in the underlying bill, which is most certainly necessary to curb gross abuses in the…

I wanted to make sure that the Small Business Administration here as part of our Federal system was as strong as it could be.

I thank the chairman for his acknowledgment and his work with us on this amendment. It has broad bipartisan support. I offer it on behalf of myself and the good Senator from Georgia, Mr. Isakson, whose expertise in housing matters is well…

Thank you, Senator Landrieu, for your steadfast commitment to the complete recovery of all the Gulf Coast States from the 2005 hurricanes.

from my perspective, it is clearly not working when it comes to these mega-disasters.

We are going to take a very close look at the recommendations that you have made in your report and weave them into the proposals that we are going to have in this piece of legislation.

I generally agree with that, but I will say that I think there needs to be some understanding of some of these contained situations...

One of the things that helped the people of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast feel more normal as quickly as possible was getting their children back into schools.

I think it is necessary to do something so that mayors and governors--and so, Mayor, let me ask you.