On the recordJune 17, 2010
Does the Senator understand that Admiral Allen has the power--or the President does--to enter into Jones Act waivers that need to be entered into, and that presumably could be done in a matter of minutes or hours? What is holding this up? Has the Senator been able to ascertain that? The Jones Act is not a barrier. That can be waived. The Jones Act was waived, as I understand it, after Katrina. There is power under the U.S. Code--I believe it is 46 U.S. Code, section 500, but I will check that--that gives the ability of agency heads of the Federal Government to waive the Jones Act. The President and Admiral Allen tell us there are ships that have come from foreign countries. I hope that is true. I assume it is if they told us that. Why is the State Department on the one hand reporting that they are declining offers of assistance from 17 countries, and then we hear some ships are being used? It comes back to the point my colleague, Senator Nelson from Florida, made about having a command and control unit. I am believing that Admiral Allen is running this operation, and I like him and commend him for his service. But we obviously need to have a better top-down control situation here so that we get some results. Every person in America has to be scratching their head as to why these skimmers aren't there. Why aren't there hundreds of them off the coasts of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi?
