Political Quotes

“first I thank my friend from Pennsylvania for his leadership and passion on this issue, and I am very pleased to join him in this amendment. I also thank the chairman of the Finance Committee for many hours on this floor working very hard to put together this very important jobs bill that we need to get done as quickly as possible. I want to spend a few moments talking about the gulf and what has happened and what it more broadly represents--both in terms of what is happening on the Senate floor and in our country. When I flip on the television and see what is happening in the gulf, like all of us, I know this truly is a tragedy. To see the workers who have lost their jobs, who can't go out on their fishing or shrimping boats, who haven't seen any tourists come their way in over a month; to see the environmental devastation, I know it is a terrible crisis that is testing our Nation and our government. The Obama administration inherited a perfect storm--an oil company known for a history of egregious safety violations, being given permits to drill a mile down under the ocean with no credible public oversight, and a public agency that believed oil companies should basically police themselves, even if there was a risk to American families. That is what they inherited.…”