Mr. President, to summarize, this is very simple: Whose side are you on? Are you on the side of the taxpayers or multibillion- dollar oil companies? Are you on the side of fishermen, working hard to make a living, or on the side of…

Mr. President, on behalf of the leadership, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Nelson be next for 5 minutes, and then Senator Cardin for 4 minutes, and then Senator Lautenberg for 5 minutes. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without…

Mr. President, I wish to thank my distinguished colleague from Washington State. I appreciate it. I rise because the Senate has three choices on how it is going to protect coastal communities from the economic ravages of the oilspills we…

I look at all of this and I say to myself that we have dramatically underestimated--it doesn't mean that we won't--that there won't be a policy decision--but, we have dramatically--MMS has dramatically underestimated the potential risk…

I personally believe that you and the country have been ill-served by the Mineral Management Service.

Do you really think that BP was capable or had a real plan for the worst-case discharge?

I have legislation to raise it to $10 billion.

But, if an entity tells you they are 'capable of responding to the worst-case discharge,' I don't think anybody reasonably would believe that BP had a plan for the worst-case discharge.

I don't think the American taxpayer would believe in that, as a proposition.

I thank my distinguished colleague. I appreciate what my colleague from Alaska had to say. Here are a couple of problems with it. First of all, when we call these companies ``independent drillers,'' some of these independent drillers who…

Mr. President, if the distinguished Senator from Alabama will yield for a moment, since I chose not to object, would he allow me to take 2 minutes of our time just to follow the sequence of the previous discussion so I will not interrupt…