My point being if our Government drives our production off of our shores, all we do is increase misery in places that we have no control of.

But respectfully, I want to take issue with what you said in your statement when you said the President and Secretary Salazar, I believe, can't seem to find a way to plug this well.

I look forward to working with you as we reshape this important agency to find the right path forward for both the environment and our economy.

I also believe that the risks--both environmental and geopolitical--are too high when we import oil from foreign sources.

I have always been a supporter of alternative, more-efficient and less carbon-intense vehicles, and I think this discussion comes at an important time.

I believe that if we are going to consume petroleum products, we must and can produce it safely at home.

I introduced the Rare Earths Supply Technology and Resources Transformation (RESTART) Act on June 22nd, 2010.

it is with heartfelt sympathy that I stand before you today to offer my deepest condolences to the family members and friends who lost their loved ones in the flash floods that swept through the Albert Pike Recreation Area in the Ouachita…

Mary Landrieu, the senator from Louisiana, for example, has seven or eight points she thinks the president should do.

Instead of having a blanket ban, including, she says, just get all the inspectors together, send them out to each deepwater rig individually.

Mary Landrieu, the Senator from Louisiana, for example, has seven or eight points she thinks the President should do instead of having a blanket ban.

I believe that indisputably it is the size of the spill that must dictate our response to this disaster and how we mitigate its horrific effects.

A dual-track system remains in place with BP vetting some ideas while the Federal Government examines others, and that is a recipe for inefficiency and inconsistency.

You may want to just consider opening up an avenue for some of these elected officials who are down there.

This is the Government's responsibility to respond to the spill.

that is a modest wage and a decent wage. But it gets a lot more complicated than that. There are boat captains who were getting their business back after Katrina and Rita, recreational boat captains, fishing captains. Unlike Florida where…

The American people deserve a Government that will fight for them, regardless of whether a profit is to be made or not.

Do you know how many responses the Coast Guard can handle in a given day?

I think we have got to really reevaluate some of these processes if we are going to try to lead the world in deepwater ocean technology.

It is our responsibility to respond to this challenge.

It is clear that the Federal Government is failing to deploy and bring to bear the equipment and technology this disaster demands.

Does the Coast Guard have the ability to issue a contract immediately if a silver bullet white paper comes across your desk?

The Federal Government is the only entity, in stark contrast to BP, whose sole responsibility is to the public interest of the American people.

Big Oil makes so much in profit every month--they can afford to pay for their recklessness.

Polluters--not taxpayers--should pay these government expenses.