Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman. My earlier comments acknowledged the many people who are working so hard down in the gulf, and I want to pay particular respect and admiration to a great public servant, Admiral Thad Allen. As many of us know, Thad Allen in effect essentially retired from the Coast Guard, but recognizing the importance of this mission and the urgency of his role there he has stayed on, working many, many long hours in an incredibly complex endeavor. I have immense respect for him and hope that people appreciate the kind of contribution not only that Admiral Allen is making but that all of the coasties and other government employees are making down there, as well as the many local residents as well. I also want to acknowledge the great work of the committee staff on both sides of the aisle in drafting this legislation, and I particularly want to speak about an aspect of this legislation that I've worked on and that I think is particularly important and often overlooked. In many other areas of activity, the role of human factors has been recognized as playing an increasingly important role. That's the case with the nuclear power industry, which realized in the post-Three Mile Island analyses that the complex information that was being provided to the operators of the plant was easily overwhelming and contributed to that disaster. It has been recognized for a long time by the Federal Aviation Administration.…”