On the recordJuly 27, 2010
I rise today to talk about the oilspill in the Gulf of Mexico and energy legislation that may be on the floor this week. For more than 3 months, the American people have watched our Nation's greatest environmental disaster unfold. This tragic accident has cost lives. It still threatens jobs and communities throughout the region. The shrimpers, fishermen, small business owners, restaurant and hotel workers, rig workers--everyone has been impacted. In the last couple of weeks, we have gotten some rare good news. First, the new containment cap has temporarily plugged the hole. Second, the new cap survived the recent storm in the gulf. Hopefully, next week BP will finish drilling two relief wells and permanently plug the leak. From this disaster we have learned that our country and the Federal Government were not prepared to deal with an emergency of this magnitude. Now we have an opportunity to fix the system. We need to implement reforms that prevent these accidents in the future and improve the ability to respond. A tragedy of this magnitude merits a serious, bipartisan response from this body and from this country. The Congress has two options: No. 1 is to fix the problem; the second is to score political victories that don't help the gulf. My friends on the other side of the aisle appear committed to using this crisis to try to score political points.
