This catastrophe is the first spill to be classified as a Spill of National Significance since that term was first coined in the wake of the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.

It does not make a lot of sense at first blush to have one agency responsible for approving the plan if it is above the water, for the vessel, and a different agency responsible if the plan applies to the wellhead.

I do want to acknowledge that BP and Mr. McKay have fully cooperated with our inquiry, and have not tried to get out of testifying today.

We will ask what the government and industry could have done differently to avoid this catastrophe.

I think the regulations should be looked at, and anything that would make this a lower probability event and safer should be looked into.

doesn't it make sense for the Administration to submit a revised budget that fully restores the money cut out of the Coast Guard using those funds?

It feels like you are making it up as you go along, that no one really knows what will plug this well.

I also wish to speak briefly on my amendment, No. 3879, which would help raise capital and risk standards for banks, bank holding companies, and nonbank financial institutions. It is not my intent that this amendment affect the treatment…

I rise today to speak on the amendment that Senator Murray and I have been working on together that would expand the Financial Stability Oversight Council established in S. 3217 to include as nonvoting members a State insurance…

This amendment would direct regulators to impose strong risk- and size-based capital standards on financial institutions as they grow in size or engage in risky practices. Our amendment is aimed at addressing the too-big-to-fail problem at…

I have pushed the Chairman, Mary Schapiro, on this issue and did so in a recent Appropriations Subcommittee hearing just a couple of weeks ago.

We are at a critical juncture in our efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

It seems certainly to me, and I think to most observers, that the decision of a company to invest in Iran is material and that its shareholders deserve to know that.

sanctions have no impact if they are not enforced.

I had the privilege of serving the people of Maine as a financial regulator for 5 years about 20 years ago. This is an issue about which I care deeply and am committed to helping forge a solution to, so that never again can the problems…

I rise today to speak on behalf of an amendment I filed to direct regulators to impose tough risk- and size- based capital standards on financial institutions as they grow in size or engage in risky business practices. Our amendment is…

I wish to discuss an amendment that would expand the Financial Stability Council established in S. 3217 to include the Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration. It is important that the council incorporate a Federal credit…

I rise today to introduce the No Child Left Behind Flexibility and Improvements Act. I am pleased to be joined in this effort by my colleague from Maine, Senator Snowe. Our legislation would give greater local control and flexibility to…

I rise today to join with my colleague from Wisconsin in introducing legislation, the Home Health Care Access Protection Act of 2010, to prevent future unfair administrative cuts in Medicare home health payment rates. Home health has…

I think it's important, for the record, for all of us to reemphasize that this breach was caused by the reduction in quantity.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that, in order to achieve the level of shipbuilding that is set out in the 30-year shipbuilding plan, you would need about $4 billion more a year than what the Navy is budgeting.

The right to own guns is part of their heritage and way of life.

We cannot let down our guard, and we must continue to meet this ongoing threat with strength and resilience.

Let me emphasize that none of us wants a terrorist to be able to purchase a gun.

How do we protect the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms, while preventing terrorists from using guns?