Political Quotes

“This simple motion to recommit ensures that oil companies clean up their mess from their oil spills prior to receiving a new permit under the guidelines of this bill. This is the final amendment to the bill, and if it is adopted, we will immediately vote on final passage. Although we may disagree on the underlying bill, we surely can agree that it is necessary to protect taxpayers who would otherwise have to foot the bill for cleaning up oil companies' oil spills. It's also necessary to protect the individuals whose lives have been directly affected by those spills. To illustrate how important this final amendment is look no further than last year's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The gulf's fisheries were worth $5.5 billion annually prior to the spill. Shouldn't we require BP to pay those economic damages before it receives another permit to drill again? The gulf coast fisheries supported 200,000 fishing jobs prior to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Shouldn't BP have the responsibility to pay economic damages to those fishermen who may have lost their livelihoods as a result of their oil spill? More than 407,000 residents and 102,000 businesses on the gulf have submitted claims for damages due to the spill, and fewer than half have been paid. Shouldn't BP have to resolve all of those claims before it takes more of our publicly owned oil from America's Outer Continental Shelf?…”