>> during our intervention work in the last three weeks we have -- we do have reason to believe that it was modified. i don't know the extent of those modifications. >> mr. meman, can you speak to that? because i'm assuming there was any modifications it would have been done by transocean. >> it was done by transocean. it was performed in 2005. it was done at b.p.'s request and at b.p.'s expense. >> and what were those modifications? >> as i mentioned in comment earlier, the b.o.p. on the deepwater horizon is fitted with five ram preventers on the rig. the modification made in 2005 converted one of those ram preventers, the lower most ram proventer were a conventional well bore preventer to a b.o.p. test ram. .

>> have there been any incidents with those where they have been modified? >> there have been b.o.p.'s modified. >> have there been any incidents? >> no i.n.s. dedgets related to

that modification -- incidents related to that modification. >> let me ask you that same question. within your interests outside the united states, have you requested any additional safety measures or modification procedures as a result of this incident? >> senator, we operate a consistent standard of policies and procedures, maintenance practices, and operating practices across the transocean fleet throughout the world, in the aftermath of this incident until we find out what may have contributed to the cause of events, we have not changed any of that standard transocean system of policies and procedures around the world. >> other than to alert our organization around the world to this incident, firstly, secondly we also operate to a standard set of procedures and it's certainly our expectation that as we learn from this incident

there may well be changes in process, procedures, or other aproachings which we would then implement as part of our global standard. that will wait objectoutly on the findings of the analysis of the root causes of this incident. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> let me just ask a question here before going on to everybody else. one of the issues, the first panel talked about was the known limitations on the ability of these shear rams to function under certain circumstances where there's joints in the drill shaft that they are expected to cut and that sort of thing. do you agree that the shear ram cannot cut these two joints? and if so is that not a serious

design flaw in the b.o.p.? mr. newman? >> i agree with the statement that there are tubulars that are used in the well construction process that the shear rams are incapable of shearing. >> do you agree that's a serious design flaw in the b.o.p.? >> i do not support the contention that's a design flaw in the b.o.p. because the industry recognizes those limitations and there are strict operating procedures in place to account for the inability of the b.o.p., inability of the shear rams to shear every tubular that might run through the b.o.p. >> those are operating procedures that would apply to your personnel operating that b.o.p.? >> yes, our personnel understand what those operating procedures are. >> do you believe they were followed in this case? >> i do. >> so you think that even though the operating -- the proper operating proceedures were

followed, the failure of the shear rams to stop the ex plotion, blowout from occurring was not a problem with -- it's not a problem with the design of the b.o.p., it's not a problem with the way of b.o.p. was operated or managed, how do you explain the fact that this b.o.p. was not able to prevent this blowout? >> the operating procedures that i referred to earlier, senator, would apply to the processes our people use when they are manipulating pipe in the b.o.p. or through the b.o.p. so running drill pipe down to the bottom to put the drill bit on the bottom of the hole to continue to drill, pulling that drill bit back up, running

casing down the b.o.p. to progress a casing operation. the operating procedures i was refering to that our people are following relate to situations where our people are in control of the pipe that is going through the b.o.p. >> they were not in control at the time this accident occurred? >> i believe there are -- without knowing today, senator, what's inside the b.o.p., it is entirely possible that there is material inside the b.o.p. that would have come from the well bore, not from the transocean people on the rig. >> from the well bore itself? >> yes, sir. >> let me go ahead with senator landrieu. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me just since i've got a minute put some additional information into the record which i think will be important. the commercial fishermen in the gulf of mexico harvested 1.27 million pounds of fish and shellfish, generated $659

million in revenue, 40% of the nation's commercial seafood harvest is from the gulf of mexico. that's one of the industries at risk. we also of course have commercial boat captains whose boats have been pushed into their slips, their harbors unable to operate. so the amount of economic damage continues to mount. i am encouraged, mr. mckay, by what you say that there will be no limit to legitimate true economic damage because it will be substantial whether it's $14 billion or something up to that amount we don't know. it's important that the gulf coast who has leaned forward in this production for the people of the gulf coast, from florida, even though they don't allow drilling, all the way over to texas that do allow drilling, to know that b.p. and the operators will be there to protect their economic interest. we want to make sure that the government agencies like the small business administration, like commerce, like other industries can step up and help

us through this difficult time. but because my eyes are leaning forward, even despite this accident, i want to ask a question about ultradeep crilling. according to offshore magazine there are currently about 120 deepwater sites drilling in the world today, is that approximately accurate? 120 are drilled every year? deep water? that's my information. do any of you-all dispute that? ok. approximately 120 are being drilled as we speak. what is required internationally to make sure that this doesn't happen or maybe i should ask the question this way, are the requirements, mr. newman, would you say you exceeded that m.m.s. requires for this deepwater drilling, are our requirements the highest internationally or are there other nations that require higher safety standards than what m.m.s. is requiring of

us to do this kind of exploration and production? >> the regulatory regimes we operate around the world, we operate in about 30 countries, the regulatory regimes vary from very minimal to quite stringent. and i would characterize the u.s. as closer to the end of being quite stringent in terms of very well described rules as it relates -- >> we are not the most stringent? >> i think there are aspects of the regulatory regime in places like the u.k. and norway that might be characterized as being more stringent than the u.s. >> but you're also testifying that there's someplaces where the regulations could be quite lax? >> there are areas where we operate with very little regulatory oversight, but as i mentioned a minute ago, our policies and procedures are maintenance standards, are

equipment standards, our operating practices are consistent throughout the world regardless of the regulatory environment we are operating in. >> so you would say that the requirements that in this committee has a great deal of responsibility in this regard is the oversight or intenor, m.m.s., you would say the standards that we promote in this committee and here in this congress have international implications because what we remember of you to drill in the gulf you normally would follow those around the world. so it's important for us to get this right. would you say that's true or not? >> i think because of the opportunity that the administration and congress have to influence the way things are done in the u.s. does have international implications. >> let me ask you this, mr. newman, you just recently, your company, acquired another drilling operator which i think caused you then to become the largest in the world. my question some of my constituents might be thinking,

are you too large to be safe? what kind of parameters are in place to make sure that -- and you, too, mr. mckay, you acquired other companies to become a quite large operator. what could you say, mr. newman, to give us any confidence that when quired this most recent + acquisition did you, if you doubled in size, did you double your safety operators? could you comment about that? >> you're referring to the combination between transocean and global -- >> yes. >> which took place in november of 2007. the combination of those two companies and the integration of such a large work force i think in hindsight went extremely well. i believe that was due in large part to the strong operating cultures and strong safety cultures that both those organizations had. both organizations prided themselves on focus on safety, a

focus on customer satisfaction, and a focus on the quality and the performance of our drilling equipment. so i do not think it had an impact on our ability to operate safely. >> mr. chairman, in this instance it may or may not have, but i do think this committee does have to give some focus to the merging of some of these companies and to the extent which they operate to make sure they have consistent policies throughout. thank you. >> mr. sessions. >> just to follow up a bit on the removal of the mud. the "wall street journal" today says that it is common practice to pull wet -- pour wet cement down into the pipe, the wet cement which is heavier than the drilling mud, hardens into the plug, and then the mud is removed after the plug is in

place. in this case a decision was made shortly before the explosion to perform the remaining task in reverse order. which is to take the mud out first. the chairman of the department of petroleum engineering in texas tech agrees this is an unusual approach, quote normally you would not evacuate the riser past the pipe from the sea floor to the rig until you were done with the last plug at the sea floor. he said in an interview. so i guess i'll ask you, mr. mckay, do you agree that normally you would not do that? >> i don't have specific knowledge of the procedure for this well and whether reverse circulating was part of the procedure or not. that will be part of the investigation. >> mr. newman would you commend comment on that? is that normal? >> it is normal practice to

remove the drilling mud from the riser prior to disconnecting the riser from the well. and that would have been part of the logical sequence of events. now, i don't have any specific knowledge with respect to the actual order of the events as they took place on tuesday evening, the 20th, because our record of events ends at 3:00 p.m. >> would you agree, mr. probert, that that was normal? >> the details, i certainly don't want to be nonresponsive to your request, senator, considering your earlier question, which was is this normal procedure and is this undertaken on a regular basis? that's something i don't have knowledge of today but i would certainly be more than willing to sort of gather, attempt to gather the information for you should it be helpful to you. >> mr. mckay, had the mud not

been removed first and replaced by seawater, would that have made the blowout more or less likely in your opinion? >> i don't know. i don't know. >> mr. newman? >> i think that calls into question the actual mode of failure. until we can determine that, i think any hypothesis about the impact, the mud and riser might have had, i think is premature. >> mr. probert? >> we really need to gather the information, reconstruct the sequence of events to be in a position to establish exactly what took place. >> mr. newman, i suppose you worked for a number of companies, produced drill for them. i am intrigued by my colleagues' $10 billion cap on the strict

liability legislation. i think it's something we should consider, but i understand there could be a result that it would favor only the superminimum wage or oil producers because the sum of money is so large. do you think that large of money, a bond, having to post a bond resumeably for that much, could keep competitors out of the business? smaller companies? would that be good policy? >> i'm not sure i want to comment on public policy. i believe congress ought to take into consideration all of the potential ramifications, including the commercial ramifications, of such a policy. >> senator cantwell, did you have additional questions? >> i do. i wanted to go back to mr. mckay, if i could, because i think the issue of who pays for this cleanup is so critically

important. mr. mckay, just going back to you although happy to have the other witnesses chime in here, but it literally was just last year that the last part of the exxon valdez cleanup were settled. it was a 20-year process. went all the way to the supreme court. so, mr. mckay, are you saying you are going to avoid that by paying legitimate claims in advance? i know you can't stop anybody from suing you, but are you saying you are going to pay legitimate claims in advance of any court process? >> we are paying legitimate claims right now. so, yes, i am. obviously we can't keep from being sued, but, yes, we have said exactly what we are going mean. we are going to pay legitimate claims. >> if it's a legitimate claim, harm to the fishing industry both short-term and long-term, you're going to pay? >> we are going to pay all legitimate claims. >> if it's an impact for business lost from tourism you are going to pay? >> we are going to pay all the

legitimate claims. >> to state and local governments for lost tax revenue you are going to pay? >> question mark. >> long-term damages to the louisiana fishing industry and its brand? >> i can't quantify or speculate on long-term. i don't know how to define it. >> additional troubles from depleted fisheries and their recovery. >> we are going to pay all legitimate claims. >> shipping impacts? >> legitimate claims. >> impacts on further drilling operations? i'm talking about things now that were part of the exxon valdez. i guess what i'm saying is i think the american people are most anxious about this, and i guess let me just go back. here's the liability and here's the framework, so we obviously only have so much money in that. i know my colleagues think we are going to raise that, but to make that retroactive is nearly impossible.

and so you're stepping up today at a hearing with probably the best advice money can buy behind you with p.r. and legal teams, i'm sure you're saying let's say we are going to pay. i want to make sure that we really understand what you are saying you are going to be committed to today. because the long-term impact of this is going to be for 20 years. and we cannot sustain this kind of behavior or cost, and i want to make sure we are getting full answers to the coverage that you are really signing up for today. >> i am trying to give you as clear an answer as i possibly can. we are trying to be extremely responsive, expeditious, pete every responsibility we have as a -- meet every responsibility we have as a responsible party and that means pay all legitimate claims. that is our intent. i can't speculate on every individual case, but i can tell you this is not about legal words, this is about getting it done and getting it done right. >> i hope so.

impacts to the pristine beaches that we have in this area, those are legitimate claims? >> yes. if it impacts the beaches, it impacts commerce, yes. >> mr. chairman, i am one who hopes we never get into the situation where we are now in some court debating about what is now a legitimate claim, because you are making a big presentation here you are stepping up to these responsibilities. i hope that is true. i hope, mr. chairman, that we will also go back on the legislation we have already passed out of this committee that included an opening up further of the gulf and pass legislation to reconsider that. i think this is clear evidence that the beaches don't need to be subject to anymore oil spill threats in the future. i thank the chair. >> thank you very much. if there are no other questions, do you have anything more, senator sessions? >> no. i thank senator cantwell for

pursuing that line of inquiry. i do believe there is some confusion about it. i have tried to look at the law on it. my understanding is legally you still remain subject to all the normal trespass and pollution laws of the state if you damage property or beaches. is that correct? >> i don't understand the law in detail, but we'll be subject to all laws. >> essentially i will say this, the provisions in the pollution act that provide for these damages, straight liability damages, expressly -- it is expressly stated in the act that that does not abrogate existing state law. i do feel like that's part of it. but i believe again your answer is, you should do what's right and compensate fully and not try to utilize technical defenses that are not legitimate.

thank you, mr. chairman. >> let me just thank the witnesses for their testimony, indicate that if members have additional questions they want to submit for the record they should do so by the end of business tomorrow, on thursday. and if you folks would be able to respond to those in the next week, that would be appreciated. thank you all very much. that will conclude the hearing. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

>> the u.s. house returns at 2:00 p.m. eastern. we'll have live coverage as they take up some eight bills, including one honoring the late detroit tigers baseball announcer, ernie harwell, who recently passed away. live coverage at 2:00 here on c-span. >> the cameras were in the courtroom. the american public would see an amazing, extraordinary event. >> solicitor general elena kagan is president obama's nominee to

replace retiring supreme court justice john paul stevens. fine the key moments from her past speeches and appearances online at the c-span video library. every program since 1987. watch what you want when you want. >> c-span, our public affairs content is available on television, radio, and online. and you can also connect with us on twitter, facebook, and youtube, and sign up for our schedule alert emails at c-span.org. >> the obama administration today released its strategy for reducing childhood obesity. the overall goal is to reduce that number from 20% today to 5% by the year 2030. first lady michelle obama was on hand for the release of the report. following her remarks a press conference with members of the president's cabinet.

>> good morning, everyone. it is a pleasure to have you here with us. before i begin i want to introduce the wonderful people on the stage with me. obviously she needs no introduction, the first lady, michelle obama. and then standing to her right the secretary of health and human services, we also have from the chairman of the federal trade commission, the director of the office of health reform from the white house, and then to my left we have the secretary of education, arne duncan, the senth of housing and urban development, and the assistant secretary from the u.s. department of agriculture. i'm really pleased to have them here with us today. 90 days ago as many of you know the president gave us a charge. he first formed the first ever task force on childhood obesity. and he asked us to all work

together to ensure that we could reduce the levels of childhood obesity and reduce it significantly within a generation. but in doing that he also told us two things that were critical to our work. first of all he told us that the federal government can't do this alone. that we had to work together with the private sector, with the philanthropic sector, with parents, with community advocates, with absolutely everyone who has a stake in ensuring that children are leading healthy and balanced lives. so we set out to work together with them. the next thing he told us is that we also had to work to ensure that we were bringing together people in the public and that we were working together with the public to ensure that we know what they think. and we did that and we were just bowled over by the response we received. over 2,500 responses from doctors and nurses, parents, community advocates, and others

telling us and giving us and sharing with us their recommendations and their best thoughts on this issue. so we believe that with those two things combined that we have produced a really informed report and we are very, very proud today and i want to share it with you, that we are rolling out this report responding to the president's charge. in this report we have what we believe is a road map, in action enforcing a set of recommendations, over 70 recommendations that will help us move from today forward to ensure that we can, in fact, reduce the levels of childhood obesity in a generation. what we know we have to do and what we believe we can do is to move from the levels where we are today, about 20% of our young people who are obese, down to about 5% of our people, young people who are obese, by the year 2030. in the next 20 years we are going to be working together

with the private sector, with state and local governments, and with others to -- based on these recommendations to try and achieve that goal. and we do believe that that goal is achievable. to do that we are going to be working in five different areas. first of all making sure that children get a healthy start to their lives. that means that we have recommendations on prenatal care for future mothers and their children. we also are including breast-feeding opportunities for young mothers and their infants. we are talking about women screen time so children are able to live a healthy and active life. and making sure children who are in our childcare facilities are also getting apple physical activity. second we want to empower parents and caregivers. we as i said believe this isn't something the federal government can't do alone. we aren't moving into people's homes. what we are doing is sharing

information with parents and caregivers so that they have actionable messages, clear messages about what they should be doing, what would be helpful to them to make sure that their children, the children under their care, are leading healthier lives, and that we are moving closer to our goal. those things include reduced marketing of unhealthy products to children and also improved health care services, including b.m.i. measurements for children. third, we are providing and suggesting and making recommendations around providing healthy foods in schools. through investments and federally supportive lunches and breakfast, upgrading other kinds of foods available, allah cart foods available, and also improving nutrition education. fourth, improving access to healthy, affordable food. by eliminating food deserts. we heard the first lady and those who are sharing the stage with me today talk very, very fashion natalie about this issue. we have gone around the country and looked at the good work

happening in communities around the country, both urban and rural, where this problem exists, and making recommendations so that we can address it. also lowering the relative prices so that we can make sure that healthier foods are getting into our communities and our children. finally, making sure that children are leading physically active lives. that includes everything from recess at school to making sure that children are able to access physical activity in the environment. they are able to bike to school, walk to school, and do so safely. those are the kind of recommendations that are embeded in this report. we are very, very proud of it. at this moment i'm also proud to introduce to you a person who has been working on this issue from day one and has given so much in terms of her savvy and in terms of her knowledge to this issue, the first lady of the united states, michelle obama. >> thank you.

thanks, everyone. thank melody for that kind introduction. that wonderful summary. i want to thank melody in particular for her work with this administration, especially her leadership on this task force. as i said when we announced the task force effort, this is going to have to be an administrationwide effort. and i am proud of the way that so many people from so many different areas of the federal government have come together and embraced this challenge, stepped up with a level of commitment and passion that's really made a difference. if we just take a step back for a moment and think about just how much this group has been able to accomplish in such a short period of time. in just a few months the folks behind me have worked together to put forward a comprehensive plan that draws on everything we have done up to this point and shows us that clear way forward.

that cooperation, enthusiasm, and initiative is really what has made this entire effort so successful. and again that's why we are here today. to talk about the action plan that they put together. to help reverse the epidemic of childhood obesity in this country. we all know that it's possible. we know we have the tools. we know we have the resources to make this happen. and now thanks to the work of the task force we have a road map for implementing our plan across our government and across the country. i have talked about the statistics. we have all hrd about them. but -- heard about them. but they always bear repeating. how nearly one in three children in this country are overweight and obese. how one in three kids will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lifetime as a result. and how we are spending $150

billion a year to treat obesity related conditions like heart disease and cancer. that is why three months ago we started, let's move. we set a very ambitious goal, and that is to end the epidemic of childhood obesity in a generation so that children born today grow up at a healthy weight. since we have made that announcement, we have already begun the work. it's revolved around four main pailars. we have been working to get parents the information they need to make healthy decisions for their families. we have been working to make our schools healthier. we have been working to increase the amount of physical activity that our kids are getting, not just during the day, at school, but also at home. and we are working to eliminate food deserts so that folks have easy and affordable access to the foods they need right in their own neighborhoods. but all that we have done over the past few months is really just been the beginning. we also want to make sure that

we are using every resource that we have not just in our federal government but throughout the public and private sector as well. we are calling upon mayors and governors and parents and educators, business owners and health care providers, anyone who has a stake in giving our children the healthy, happy future that we all know they deserve. as i have said before, we don't need new discoveries or new inventions to reverse this trend. again we have the tools at our disposal to reverse it. all we need is the motivation, the opportunity, and the will power to do what needs to be done. that's why shortly after we started let's move we asked the task force to collect ideas and put together a road map for what we need to do moving forward. but we have also known as melody pointed out from the very beginning that the solution to this epidemic isn't going to come from just washington alone.

not a single expert that we have consulted has said that having the federal government tell people what to do is the way to solve this. that's why the task force has done such a great job in reaching out to people all across the country for their ideas, as melody has pointed out. and we have terrific responses and input which has really helped to shape this report. today the task force has submitted their report outlining important steps that federal agencies and partners, including businesses in the private sector, will take in the months and years ahead to help keep our children healthy. for the first time, this is the key we are setting really clear goals and benchmarks and mesh shurebling outcomes that will help tackle this challenge one step, one family, and one child at a time. the effort starts with using the resources across the federal government in the most effective ways possible. not just talking about making a difference but actually doing

it. and that's why i am so proud of the folks behind me because they really have taken the lead and stepped up in their agencies. at the department of agriculture, secretary vilsack who couldn't be here today but kathleen is, is leading the way to first re-authorization the child nutrition act. to get healthier foods in our schools and to make sure that everyone in this country has access to healthy, affordable foods in their neighborhoods. at the department of health and human services, secretary sebelius is working to provide mothers with better prenatal care and give parents and caregivers the information they need to make healthy decisions for their families. at the department of education, secretary duncan is working to expand opportunities for physical activity in schools and helping our children learn how to make healthy choices for themselves. and at the white house, nancy ann, worked with secretary

sebelius and so many others to help pass health reform, the bill that is groundbreaking piece of legislation that includes really important provisions like requiring chain restaurants to post the calories in their food and businesses to provide opportunities for working mothers to continue to breast-feed. this report also contains these steps but many others. more than 70 as melody pointed out. including measurable benchmarks for tracking the progress. so if we do our jobs and if we meet the goals we set, we will reverse a 30-year trend and solve the problem of childhood obesity in america. in order to make our kids maintain a healthy weight from the very beginning, we are going to increase prenatal counseling, help pregnant mothers maintain a healthy weight. we are also setting a goal to increase breast-feeding rates to help children get a healthy start in life. to encourage children to eat

healthier we are setting a goal to increase the amount of fruit that children consume to 75% of the recommended level by 2015, we want to increase that again to 85% by the year 2020 and then by the year 2030 we hope to be at 100%. we are using a similar scale to increase the percentage of vegetables that our kids are eating as well. we are also working to decrease the amount of added sugar that our kids consume from a whole range of products. and to make sure that parents and kids are getting the right information that they need to make healthy decisions, we are setting a goal that all primary care physicians should be assessing b.m.i. at all well child and adolescent visits by the year 2012. we are also working to increase the portion of the healthy food and beverages that are fiesed and targeted to our --

advertised and targeted to our children so that within three years the majority of food and beverage ads aimed at kids will promote healthy choices. we are also setting benchmarks for our schools as well. we'll be working, as i have said, many times over the months to double the number of schools that meet the healthier u.s. schools challenge by the year 2011, and we want to add another thousand schools each year for the following two years. we are also aiming to add an additional two million children to the national school lunch program by 2015. to help our kids stay active, we are going to increase the number of high school students who participate in daily p.e. classes by 50% by the year 2030. and we'll aim to increase the percentage of elementary schools that offer recess to 95% by the year 2015.

both these steps are aimed at boosting the number of kids of all ages who need current physical activity guidelines. to make it easier for parents to put healthy food on the table, we are going to keep track of the low-income areas where residents live more than a mile from a supermarket or large grocery store. and for rural areas we are tracking those that are more than 10 miles away. and we'll set a goal of eliminating all those food deserts within seven years. to make it easier for kids to walk to school we are aiming to increase the percentage of school-aged children who take safe walking and biking trips to school by 50% in the next five years. in the end, that's why this report and this task force are so important. we all know the dangers of childhood obesity and the toll that it takes on our children, our families, and our country. we know the steps that we need to take to reverse the trends.

through let's move we have already started making some progress. we have gotten wonderful support from all sectors of our country. and now with this report we have a very solid road map that we need to make these goals real, to solve this problem within a generation. now we just need to follow through with the plan. we just need everyone to do their part. and it's going to take everyone. no one gets off the hook on this one. from government to schools, corporations, to nonprofits, all the way down to families sitting around their dinner table. and the one thing that i can promise is that as first lady i'm going to continue to do everything that i can to focus my energy to keep this issue at the forefront of the discussion in this society. so that we ensure that our

children can have the healthy lives and bright futures that they deserve. so i am grateful to everyone here, not just members on stage but people in the media who have really done an outstanding job to continue to keep this issue at the forefront. we are going to keep needing to have this conversation. our work has just begun. this road map is just the beginning, but we are going to continue to need your help in monitoring, tracking, having the important discussions that we need to informing families about what's going on, how to make the changes that they need. it's not going to be easy, but we'll do our part to stick with families and communities and reach our goals. so i want to thank you all for the support you have lent to this effort. i'm very proud of our federal agencies, all our secretaries, and our agency heads.

every single one of them has shown a passion. they have seen around the country that we are poised to make a difference in this country. that people are ready for this change. so with that i'll again thank melody for her work in leading this very efficient and effective effort and then we'll open it up, these secretaries will answer questions. i will leave but they are very competent to get that done. thank you all. >> we would like to open this up and take your questions. let us know if you want them directed to any particular

person. great. we have a lot of hands. give us your name and organization that would be terrific, thank you. >> reuters. does it mention in the recommendations about higher tax on sugary drinks? i wanted to get more information on that and how you would propose to implement such a thing? and whether you think could you actually get something like that through congress? >> sure. >> i think the reference to the tax is a reference to what is going on in some states and localities around the country. there is no proposal for a federal tax on sugar. it is a strategy that is in place in some communities. then others are taking a strong look at because it does correlate to a lower use. i think the reference is more this is one of the efforts underway right now in communities and it may be a

strategy that others want to deploy. but there is no recommendation for a federal tax. >> next question. >> jerry from national journals congress daily. i would like to address this question to deputy secretary. i noticed that one of the recommendations or actually the actions that you have planned is to update the dietary guidelines in the food pyramid. the question i have is whether that is on a speeded up schedule compared with the way they are -- i think they are normally done every few years. i'm just wondering how soon you'll be doing that? >> thanks for that question. the process has been underway now for nearly a year. we had a committee of experts working on that. we are very close to a first release for people to get into

the weeds and figure out how they feel about it. it's been ongoing for a while. it's married up to the larger effort. >> great. next question. >> i woo like to know about the school -- i would like to know about the school lunch program. particularly the allah cart items served in school. -- ala cart items served in school. there will be aboutright ban? how deep will the regulation go? >> we'll be working with secretary vilsack to think that thing through. what he's pushing so hard on is to make sure the food we are serving for breakfast and lunch are healthy, making sure what's in vending machines is healthy. and making sure we are helping to instill in students at an early age an understanding of these issues. he's not here to talk through the details of it, but he's trying to take the country i

think in an extraordinarily important direction. and is looking for increased funding to put that money into the into status quo but more nutrition meals. he's been a phenomenal part in this effort. >> one thing i would also add to that. we are looking at the quality of school meals, but we are also looking at a population in the country where nearly 18% of the children are food insecure. one of the pillars of let's move is about food access. food access is about food deserts it's about hunger and obesity. the root cause, lack of access to good healthy food. we know we have 32 million children now that are in the school lunch program, but we only have 11 million in the school breakfast program. and worst of all in the summertime we have about 2.4 million in our summer feeding program.

we also have access issues that are getting children access to meals. in some cases we know that children really their only sustenance during the day is companying from these -- come interesting these national school lunch programs and breakfast. we need to do better. that's also part of the priority of the child nutrition re-authorization that we are all engaged in this year. quality and as well reach. >> i also think this is an excellent example of the kind of partnership we are talking about. this is an area where not only do we agree across the administration but the food and beverage industry is also in agreement with us that ala cart food as well as the lunches and breakfast that we have been talking about meet certain nutritional standards. that's an example of the kind of collaboration.

>> one of the proposals has to do with having insurance policies. i'm looking at secretary sebelius, covering childhood obesity programs. is that something that's not common now? why make a distinction between adult obesity insurance coverage and childhood obesity? >> i believe what the report's talking about is covering among other things prevention and making sure children get wellness visits and the care that they need. we do know that will help families to lower their costs and lower insurance preemsums that's the reason why it's focused on that. >> would that include surgery? whatever congressional record -- across-the-board recommendation it might snb >> i don't think we have gotten to that point. >> why make a distinction in wellness between adult ebeesity and childhood obesity? >> prevention will be covered for adults as well. >> i think some of the issues about what specifically are

going to be covered in brie vention packages have not -- prevention packages have not yet been determined. but i think there is no question that if a lot of people believe if you intervene earlier the likelihood you could change a child's patterns and not end up with the kind of adult pattern where two out of three adults right now are overweight or obese is also a strategy worth having. prevention efforts will be available across-the-board and certainly aimed at obesity across the board. this report is focused on childhood obesity. >> there is for the chairman of the federal trade commission. over and over again the federal trade commission has had opportunities to reduce somehow or other the amount of

advertising to children on television. and every time you have tried you flunged. what's -- flunked. what's going to make it different now? >> i think we have -- you're right. if you back to the 1970's and early 1980's there was an effort to regulate food marketing to kids. i think one thing that makes a difference now is first of all this is a really multifaceted approach involving a lot of different agencies. a lot of different things that will help reduce obesity, particularly childhood obesity. for our agency i think we are working fairly cooperatively with food marketing companies. and that's a good thing. as you may know in 2005 we subpoenaed 44 major food marketing companies. fast food companies. and we asked them to make commitments to market only healthier foods to kids. although they haven't done quite as much as we might like, or as

fast as we like, we did get commendable progress. now we are going back into the field and we are going to see, we are going to go back and send subpoenas back to all these companies which we can do and we'll find out whether they are honoring their commitments and whether we can make them do more. >> we already know that they are not honoring their commitment, has it made a difference? >> i don't want to prejudge. we have seen to some extent marketing healthier food to kids. i agree with you. more needs to be done. i also think that a regulatory approach is certainly not where we want to start. i think you try to start by pushing self-regulation by using your bully pulpit which the first lady is doing and we are trying to do on our own in a small way. and by commending the companies that are really stepping up to

the plate and sometimes shaming companies that aren't doing enough. but we are in danger of becoming a nation, as we all know, a nation of corpulent americans, nobody wants to see that. we are going to work really hard. i think regulation is the last thing you want to do. there are also important first amendment concerns. if we tried to regulate what foods could be marketed, i think that would be a matter that would be in litigation for quite sometime. we don't have the authority to do that because congress in the 1970's as a result of the efforts then took away our authority to engage in food marketing regulations. certain types of marketing regulations. so we are going to keep on working on it. we like this approach that's sort of collective and multifaceted. >> i think first of all the first lady referenced the child nutrition re-authorization bill

that congress has already started to move on. we have seen chairman lincoln take really wonderful steps to that end. it was something that was included in our budget that the president sent up this year. we continue to work with the chairwoman and other members of congress to increase the amount of funding to support that program. we also have the healthy food fansing initiative in our budget that we want to move forward. so again this is -- there are an array of different recommendations and proposals included in the report. again including what we can do at the federal level, but also what state and local governments can do, what the private sector can do, in some cases we are encouraging one sector to act. in some case it is will require all sectors to act. but it includes legislation, it includes recommendations for what should happen in the private sector. going forward the first lady anti-task force will take the lead on efforts with regard to the private sector. we obviously will be moving forward on the things that will be done on the federal level and

working with state and local governments as well. >> a couple questions, school related questions for secretary duncan. >> your name and organization? >> peter mayer with cbs news. secretary duncan, this recommendation to increase the walking and -- safe walking distance to schools by 50% mrs. obama mentioned, how do you think you can do that with local school systems having their own mandates and so forth? do you envision decreasing say school bus service to kids that live a certainies distance close to schools? >> those aren't decisions we don't make in washington. it's really shined a spot white how beneficial it is. it's helping districts do the right thing. it's not a federal mandate. but it's really encouraging people to do this. we have resources, we have $410 million we want to invest.

thinking about what we are doing to and from school, during school, recess, lunch, we want to put our money where our mouth is. i'm convinced children are not going to be best academically if they aren't healthy. this is way to make sure student have the maximum chance to fulfill their academic potential. >> as we approach in what many areas is the end of the school year, the question for you or anyone else up there, to what extent are you concerned that the effort to good nutrition for so many kids who can only rely on school lunches and school breakfasts for their daily nutrition is going to just collapse every year at this time? >> that's a real concern and we can talk, but i think the summer feeding program is a big deal. that's something i worry about a lot. over the summer or weekend who are really struggling to get food and quality food at home. that's a big challenge.

>> nothing to walkthrough. again it's 2.4 million children. if you assume that at least the 11 million children that now participate in school breakfast programs are of income level that they really need that assistance and we know we have 2.4 million children getting the summer feeding program, that's a significant gap. we also know that only 88,000 of the 100,000 schools that have school lunch program in place offer the breakfast program. so 11 million is probably not the whole of it. we do have a significant gap. again this is a very important issue that we are discussing the context of the child nutrition re-authorization legislation effort. and to underscore what melody says, the president's f.y. 2011 budget proposal that went up to capitol hill put forth $1 billion a year to support the child nutrition re-authorization. that's what we feel we need. congress is struggling to find

those dollars, but i think we all agree it is an extremely important effort. we are hoping that we can gooned what the senate bill has done -- go beyond what the senate bill has done. it's a great start. we believe we need a $10 billion bill. >> you asked a little bit about kids walking to school. obviously the schools are a piece of it but the surrounding neighborhoods, if they are not designed in a way that allows for either many communities without any sidewalks much less bike paths, so there is a range of ways in the religiouses that h.u.d. also working with department of transportation and department of justice will be working to ensure that we have opportunities for kids to walk to school. whether that when we are redeveloping a community through say a hope 6 housing community. making sure -- >> we are going to leave the last few minutes of this news conference from earlier with a reminder can you watch it

online, c-span.org, look in our video library. the u.s. house about to gavel in for lg work. this afternoon members will take up eight bills, including one honoring the late detroit tigers baseball announcer, ernie harwell. we, spkt a recess this afternoon to allow members to return to town for votes. those are scheduled for 6:30 eastern. live to the house floor here on c-span. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father coughlin. chaplain coughlin: lord, make your presence known in our midst, that we may calm the

fears of your people and bring justice to the land. fill the members of congress with understanding that they may relish our national diversity and gain wisdom by listening to one another. make of us an instrument of peace in the world, by lifting us beyond self-centerness to a new level of transcendens and transparency. let your truth reign in our hearts that we may give you glory both now and forever. amen. . with best wishes

i am signed sincerely, lorraine c. miller, clerk of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will is before the house a communication.

the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. madam, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on may 7, 2010, at 11:06 a.m. that the senate passed senate 1053, that the senate passed senate 1405, that the senate passed without amendment h.r. 5160. that the senate passed with an amendment h.r. 689. that the senate passed without amendment h.r. 1121. that the senate passed without amendment h.r. 1442. that the senate passed without amendment h.r. 2802. with best wishes i am signed sincerely, lorraine c. miller, clerk of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the hon yorbling the

speaker -- honorable the speaker, house of representatives. madam, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on may 7, 2010, at 3:04 p.m. that the senate passed senate 3333. that the senate agreed to without amendment house concurrent resolution 247. that the senate agreed to without amendment house concurrent resolution 263. that the senate passed with an amendment h.r. 3619. with best wishes i am signed sincerely, lorraine c. miller, clerk of the housement -- house. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following enrolled bill. the clerk: h.r. 5148, an act to amend title 39 united states code to clarify the instances in which the term census may

appear on mailable matter. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from the northern mariana islands rise? the gentleman is recognized. mr. sablan: thank you, mr. speaker. once again the school has won the honors to represent the northern mariana island in the annual we the people competition. they have a tradition of excellence in speech and debate and they continue that course with distinction. it was funded by the congress through the education for democracy act. this is a program program we should continue to support. i watched the mount caramel testify in a simulated congressional hearing in the we the people the citizens

textbook. they are nothing short of impressive in their knowledge and understanding of the historical basis and the concept underlying the document that established our national government. let me acknowledge them by name. matthew, maria, brian, erica, john, savannah, ivan, anycould he lie, anthony, nicolea, and joseph. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. wilson: mr. speaker, i ask permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. wilson: mr. speaker, first there was a government scheme that offered financial incentives to upgrade to more efficient energy cars. cash for clunkers. that program came over budget by 300%. now congress is trying to do

the same thing again for cash for caulkers, a program designed to make your home more energy efficient. i support the bill's intent to encourage energy efficiency, but i believe there are other ways to atcheeve our energy goals without borrowing money we can't afford. this is the people's money not the government's money. almost $5 billion has already been spent on weatherization programs in the spending bill. and there's plenty of evidence that the funds have not been spent as they should. despite the evidence, congress decided last week to pile on another $6.6 billion at a time when washington must get serious about spending. the american people cannot afford for congress to pass another multibillion dollar bill we can't afford. tough choices are needed to curb washington spending habits and cash for caulkers is one such easy choice to forgo. in conclusion god bless our troops, we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise?

>> request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: mr. speaker, the international monetary fund, the i.m.f., is guaranteeing up to $321 billion in loans to bail out european union countries like greece, portugal, and spain. that means american taxpayers will be on the hook for billions of dollars for these unsecured loans. we are the i.m.f.'s largest contributor. also the european union was formed to compete economically with the united states. now it's crashing down like a socialist stack of cards. so u.s. taxpayers are going to pay to support our international competitor, the e.u. why should american taxpayers bail out europe's big pensions and their government-run health care? greece is in the u.e. and it's their responsibility not ours. i don't see the i.m.f. coming to the rescue of california and new jersey. their economies are bigger than greece's an they are in financial chaos as well.

mr. speaker, the american taxpayer is tapped out. we have 10% unemployment. we don't have the money to bail out greece. it's time uncle sam quit being the a.t.m. for the rest of the world, stop spending money we didn't have, and stop the bailout nonsense. that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker, this month we are celebrating world trade month to honor the 300,000 american businesses which support millions of american jobs. mr. smith: international markets represent 73% of the world's purchasing power, 87% of its economic growth, and 90% of the world's consumers. more than 50 million americans work for companies which engage in international trade and one in three acres of american farmland grows food for consumers overseas. unfortunately approval of pending trade agreements with countries such as colombia, south korea, and pan in a have

-- panama have languished. every day we delay the more ground our nation and economy lose to our international competitors. trade is an indispensable part of american prosperity and congress needs to make increasing international opportunities a much higher priority. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. burgess: ask permission to rise and address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. burgess: how many times we hear during this past year, year and a half, if you like what you have, you can keep it. talking about health insurance, talking about your doctor. we even heard the presidential candidate of 2008 who eventually won the presidency, if you like your doctor, if you like your insurance company, nothing about my law will require you to change that. but now we are finding out an entirely different story. published on cnn money, published in "fortune" magazine this past week, many companies are examining a course that was heretofore unthinkable,

dumbning the health care coverage they provide to their works in exchange for paying a penalty in fees to the government. consider this, from cnn money on may 6, internal documents, recently reviewed by fortune, originally requested by congress, shows what the bill's critics predicted and what it's champions dreaded. many large companies are compgs a -- compksing a course that was unthinkable, dumping their health care coverage. a large company that employs 300,000 employees spends $2.4 billion a year on health care covering. that figure would drop if they simply paid the fines to $600 million. $2.4 million to $600 million. what choice have had he going to make? i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. stearns: just three months ago, federal reserve chairman bernanke told congress we have no plans whatsoever to be involved in any foreign bailouts or anything of that sort.

now mr. bernanke has changed his own policy statements by agreeing to provide a federal emergency lending program that will loan american taxpayer dollars to foreign central banks sew that they in turn can lend this money out to smaller foreign banks as reported in the "wall street journal" on may 10 of this year. this decision comes in the wakes of the european union's agreement with the international money fund to create a $1 trillion bailout package for the e.u. in order to deal with that region's ensuing fiscal crisis. the i.m.f., which is also funded by american taxpayer dollars, will be contributing over $250 million to this oversea bailout in addition to the federal dollar swap loan program. the question, mr. speaker, is, why did mr. bernanke change his policy? why are american taxpayers now helping to bail out european countries? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized.

mr. towns: mr. speaker, i rise to pass on my condolence to the knight family. clarence knight who i met in 1952, very active member in the community, has worked hard with the tenant association, worked hard with the alumni association, a person that was always anxious and willing to help others, he passed away yesterday. of course he's going to be missed. let me say to the family, pat, renee, and of course scrappy and to all the family members that you have my deepest sympathy and of course if there's anything that we can do we would be delighted to be there for you. on that note, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise?

>> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: mr. speaker, here's the state of the union. unemployment remains almost 10% , 16 million people have lost their jobs. taxes are going up. the health care bill costs $300 billion more than the american people were told. the nation's deficit has doubled in the last year because of excessive government spending. our foreign policy also has run a deficit. the world is a more dangerous place today. iran is closer to making a nuclear bomb. we have insulted our allies, western europe, and israel. there is no victory in iraq or afghanistan. it's time for a change all right. we need a bipartisan balance in washington not a one-party monopoly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time.

pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. recorded votes on postponed questions will be taken after 6:30 p.m. today. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. towns: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5051. the speaker pro tempore: h.r. 5051, a bill to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 23 genesee street in hornell, new york, as the zachary smith post office building the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the

gentleman from new york, mr. towns, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. mccotter, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i now yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: mr. speaker, on behalf of the house committee on oversight and government reform, it is with a heavy heart that i present h.r. 5051 for consideration. this measure designates the united states postal building located at 23 genesee street in hornell, new york, as the zachary smith post office building. on january 24, 2010, while on patrol in southern afghanistan,

lance corporal zachary smith, a marine, based out of camp lejeune, made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. he has been awarded a purple heart by president obama for his selfless service. zachary smith was born on april 2, 1990, to his parents, christopher and kim smith, in hornell, new york, where he lived along with his brother and sister. nathan yell and grace smith -- nathaniel and grace smith. he graduated in 2008. fulfilling his lifelong address the house for one minute, zachary enlisted in the marines while still in high school. after graduation, zach left for basic training but not before

marrying his high school sweetheart, ann. they were we had on july 25, 2009, and zach completed boot camp at paris island, south carolina, before going on to graduate from the marine corps school of infantry. described as a gifted athlete by friends, zach was on the hornell high school football and golf teams throughout his four years of high school. he was a member of the twin hickory golf club and also the hornell golf club. he enjoyed watching sporting events and he especially liked to root for the new york giants and the new york yankees. and the syracuse orangemen. he was also a member of our lady of the valley parish and also part of the st. anne's church. those who knew him say he was a genuine, humorous and outgoing

young man who enthusiastically embraced life. he always cared more from others than he did for himself and would go out of his way to help anyone who needed his help. the world would be a better place if it had more young men like zach. his service to his country is an example we all should follow. and we owe him a debt of gratitude for his service and his sacrifice. please join me in honoring zach's memory by supporting this bill. the people of hornell will be reminded of zach's courage and valor every day as they pass by the post office building named in his honor. h.r. 5051 was introduced by the gentleman from new york, representative joseph crowley, on april 15, 2010.

the measure was referred to the committee on oversight and government reform which ordered it reported by unanimous consent on may 6, 2010. the measure enjoys the support of the entire new york state delegation. i thank the gentleman for introducing the bill, and i am sure it means a great deal to lance corporal smith's family and his friends. i also thank the gentleman from california, congressman issa, and all the members of the committee, especially that worked to make this a reality. of course, mr. issa for his support in bringing this to the floor as well. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to vote for this measure, honoring a fallen soldier, who gave his life for his country, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized.

mr. mccotter: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mccotter: i rise in support of h.r. 5051, designating the united states postal service, located at 23 genesee new york in hornell, new york, as the zac zac -- genesee avenue in hornell, new york, as the zachary smith post office building. praise is from the family and friends who speak on behalf of zac -- zachary smith. he was born in 1990. a graduate of hornell high school. he loved sports and played on the football and golf teams. after graduation, zach followed his lifelong dream of serving his country and enlisted in the united states marine corps. he was assigned to the second platoon sea company sixth battalion marines and was deployed to afghanistan on april 17, 2009. tragically after only serving in afghanistan for one month he gave the ultimate sacrifice for

our country in combat on january 24 in the hellman province. zach was only 19 years old. described by his childhood friend as someone who always lifted everyone's spirits, zach served his community and country with selfless devotion. he leaves behind his wife, ann smith, participants, chris and kim smith, brother nate and sister, grace. i rise to honor an outstanding citizen. i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and honor of a valiant life who will not and should not be forgotten by a grateful nation. thank you, mr. speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i'd like to know if the gentleman has any other speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. mccotter: mr. speaker, i urge all members to support the passage of this bill, and i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: i still continue to reserve. does he have any more speakers? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. mccotter: mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: mr. speaker, on that note i would like to yield back as well and to say to my colleagues i think this is a very honorable thing to do. i think we all should applaud mr. smith and the smith family for his outstanding service. on that note i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 5051. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition?

mr. towns: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.res. 1294. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1294, resolution expressing support for designation of the first saturday in may as national explosive ordnance disposal day to honor those who are serving and have served in the noble and self-sacrificing profession of explosive ordnance disposal in the united states armed forces. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new york, mr. towns, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. mccotter, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. towns: i rise in support of h.res. 1294, a resolution

supporting the resolution of a national explosive ordinance disposal day in honor of selfless service and sacrifice of the men and women of the united states armed services. who risk their lives every day as explosive ordinance disposal experts. explosive ordinance removal has always been a profession fraught with exceptional danger and emotional distress. my colleague, the gentleman from california, congressman issa, knows this firsthand, from his time as a bomb disposal technician in the united states army. now, as the united states military is engaged in two unconventional wars, our explosive ordinance team is under pressure as never before. they must respond on a daily basis to roadside bombs and land mines that threaten our

troops. it is their nerves of steel and their technical expertise that keep their comrades safe during ongoing operations in iraq and afghanistan. these brave men and women deserve a day of honor and remembrance for a difficult task. we ask them to carry out in this service of their country. wherever they may be, patrolling the roads of afghanistan or disarming and i.e.d. in the streets of baghdad, they are in our thoughts and in our prayers. this resolution was introduced by our colleague, the gentlewoman from florida, representative ginny brown-waite, on april 22, 2010. it was referred to the committee on oversight and government reform, which reported the measure by unanimous consent on may 6,

2010. this measure enjoys the support of 60 members of the house. i thank the gentlewoman for introducing the bill, and i thank the ranking member of the committee on oversight and government reform, mr. issa, of course, and his staff for the work in bringing this bill to the floor today. on that note, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. mccotter: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield as much time as she may consume to my dwrished colleague from the state of florida, ms. brown-waite. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from florida is recognized. ms. brown-waite: i thank the gentleman from michigan. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of house resolution 1294, expressing support for designation of the first saturday in may as national explosive ordinance disposal day, to honor those who are serving and those who have served in the noble and

self-sacrificing profession of explosive ordinance disposal in the united states armed forces. although clearly a work of hollywood drama meant for entertainment purposes, the academy award winning film, "the hurt locker," has brought new attention to our technicians. while the action shown in this film is intense and very gripping, there is no question that when it comes to explosive ordinance disposal the truth is even more compelling than fiction. for this reason, i, along with my colleague from oklahoma, representative boren, introduced house resolution 1294, to recognize the real contributions that disposal technicians have made to our nation's military since the united states first began its bomb disposal program over 69 years ago. on average there are over 4,000

brave men and women serving as explosive ordnance disposal technicians within the four services. e.o.d. teches are responsible for the location, identityification, neutralization and disposal of hazardous explosive items and devices. they are on the front lines in the global war on terrorism, protecting their fellow troops from conventional explosives, nuclear weapons and improvised explosive devices. as my constituent and the executive director of the e.o.d. memorial foundation explains, e.o.d. technicians are people who voluntarily take that long walk into uncertainty every time they go to dispose of a bomb. this resolution also supports observing the first saturday in may as national explosive ordnance day. this date was selected to

coinside with the memorial ball. this year's ball, which happens to be the 42nd annual one, was held in fort walton beach, florida, on may 1, and i understand it was a wonderful success, selling out all of the tickets that was available. because the e.o.d. foundation -- memorial foundation, rather, is headquartered in my district of webster, florida, i've had the great honor to meet many of these warriors. i've learned that the ties that bind the e.o.d. community together expand beyond the battlefield. the e.o.d. community is a family. and when one is lost, the rest of them come together to support those left behind. in 2009, 16 e.o.d. technicians lost their lives serving our nation in battle. . another was killed taking a part in i.e.d. just this past

week. this resolution honors those men and women who courageously, selfish -- selflessly and graciously face the real dangers posed by traditional and improvised explosives. with that i urge my colleagues to join myself and mr. boren in honoring those american warriors and supporting house resolution 1294. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues to honor the brave men and women working on explosive ordnance disposal technicians by supporting this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i

wholeheartedly associate myself with the remarks of my distinguished colleagues, ms. brown-waite and mr. towns. i urge all members to support the passage of h.res. 1294. i yield back the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: mr. speaker, again i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this measure and of course on that note i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 1294. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, -- mr. towns: i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman ask for the yeas and nays? mr. towns: yes. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior

announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. towns: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.con.res. 268. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 268. concurrent resolution supporting the goals and ideals of national women's health week, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new york, mr. towns, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. mccotter, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

mr. towns: i now yield myself as much time as i might consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: i rise in support of h.con.res. 268, recognizing national women's health week. this week marks the 11th annual women's health week, a week-long observation of women's health issues. it is a great opportunity for us to discuss and promote research on the benefits of healthy habits. including regular exercise, nutritious diet, and regular checkups and screenings. i'm heartened that the department of health and human services offers on women's -- office on women's health takes time every year to coordinate the efforts of the national and community organizations to promote healthy choices and educate all americans on female health issues. i thank them for all of their hard work. as the resolution notes, it is

imperative to educate women and girls about issues that may impact their health. as they may face unique health risks at any age. further, the solution notes that -- the resolution notes that significant disparities exist in the prevalence of disease among women of different backgrounds. including women with disabilities, african-american women, asian, pacific islander women, latinas, and american indians, alaskans, native women in order to empower all women to take the necessary measures to be as healthy as possible, we must work to promote health education research and healthy lifestyles. on that note i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. mccotter: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized. mr. mccotter: i rise today in support of h.con.res. 268, supporting the goals and ideals of national women's health week. national women's health week begins on mother's day each year. during this week individuals, families, communities, businesses, governments, and other groups work together to encourage women and their families to increase their awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle. regular exercise and medical checkups. hopefully others will follow their lead with children and spouses learning the benefits that regular exercise, good nutrition, and other preventive measures which really do have lifelong positive consequences. i encourage my fellow members to join me in supporting h.con.res. 268. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: h.con.res. 268 was introduced by my colleague, the gentleman from new york, representative maurice hinchey,

on april 27, 2010. it was referred to the committee on oversight and government reform which reported it favorably by unanimous consent on may 6, 2010. the measure enjoys the support of over 50 co-sponsors. on that note i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. mccotter: mr. speaker, i urge all members to support the passage of h.con.res. 268. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: i thank the gentleman from new york for introducing this measure, mr. hinchey, and i hope we can all stand behind it. i'd also like to thank the gentleman from california, congressman issa, and all his staff who worked to make this a reality. i encourage my colleagues to vote for this measure and of course on that note, mr. speaker, i yield back the

balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 268. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative -- the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. towns: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.res. 1328. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1328. resolution honoring the life and legacy of william ernest

"ernie" harwell. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new york, mr. towns, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. mccotter, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i now yield myself as much time as i might consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: i rise in support of h.res. 1328, a resolution honoring the life and legacy of william "ernie" harwell. mr. harwell, an iconic and beloved sports c569er -- sportscaster for the deloit tigers, passed away on may 4, 2010, at the age of 923. -- 92. during his 55-year career, he delivered the play-by-play for more than 8,000 -- 8,500 major

league baseball games, spending more than 40 of those years calling games for the tigers. he became known as the voice of the tigers. due to his colorful style of commentary, a player called out on third strike, he would say, he was called out for excessive window shopping. a double play was two for the price of one. he finally retired from broadcasting in 2002 while he was still in good health. saying he discussed it with his wife and that it is better to leave too early than to leave too late. mr. harwell's love of baseball was also expressed in writing and song. in 1955 he wrote, the game for all americans.

an essay celebrating americans' love affair with baseball. mr. harwell wrote dozens of songs, including one more hank aaron when he broke babe ruth's home run record. in 1974. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. mccotter: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. -- i yield as much time as she may consume to my distinguished colleague from the state of michigan, mrs. miller. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from michigan is recognized. mrs. miller: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, last tuesday we in the entire state of michigan lost a treasure with the passing of ernie harwell. for a generation of detroit tiger fans, ernie harwell was literally the voice of summer. day after day and year after year that wonderful southern gentleman voice was heard on our radios and made every baseball season wonderful, regardless of the number of

tigers wince or losses. ernie's voice broadcasting the tigers game was a welcomed friend at family picnics or the beach. he was with us in our cars as we were driving up north on a family vacation. he was with us in our yards and garages as we did our household chores. the truth of the matter is that ernie harwell was more than just a baseball broadcaster, he was a member of our family. and that is why the loss of ernie harwell is being mourned by our entire community, mr. speaker, whether you are a baseball fan or not. we loved ernie harwell because he personified integrity, generosity, courtesy, honor, and just pure class. as a young man he served our nation in the united states marine corps during world war ii. for 68 years he shared his life with his beloved wife, lulu and their four children, seven grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. for more than 40 years his voice was a welcomed friend on our radios. since his retirement eight

years ago, he has -- he was still a current and beloved presence in our community. throughout his life his charitable acts and general kindness made him a beloved figure for everyone. last fall, mr. speaker, when he found out he was stricken with inoperable cancer, ernie accepted his fate with grace because of his deep and abiding faith in god and the knowledge he had led a wonderful life. last september ernie gave a farewell speech before a tiger game and i just want to read a bit of that speech so everyone has an understanding of why we all loved ernie harwell so much. he said, in my 92 years on this earth, the good lord has blessed me with a great journey and the blessed part of that journey is that it's going to end here in the great state of michigan. i deeply appreciate the people of michigan. i love their grit, i lover the way they face life, i love the family values that they have, and you tiger fans are the greatest fans of all. no question about that. and i certainly want to thank

you from the depth of my heart for your devotion, support, loyalty, and love. thank you very much. and god bless you. that's what he said, mr. speaker. we lover you, too, ernie. our hearts go out to ernie's wife for her great loss and we send our thanks to mrs. harwell for sharing the man she loved for these many years with millions throughout michigan and around our nation. thank you, ernie, for being such a special part of the life of so many in our community. god bless you good friend and may you rest in peace. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the squafment michigan reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: mr. speaker, this resolution was introduced by our colleague, the gentleman from michigan, representativeed that mccotter, on may 5, 2010, it was referred to the committee on oversight and government reform which reported the resolution by unanimous consent on may 6,

2010. the measure enjoys the support of 70 members of the house. i thank the gentleman from michigan for introducing this measure and of course i thank the staff and all who -- along with the ranking member, congressman issa of california, for working to bring this to the the -- to the floor today. on that note i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. . mr. mccotter: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mccotter: they say that youth is wasted on the young. and in many ways it is. as a kid growing up in michigan who loved baseball going through those deep winters was difficult. we would wait for the first signs of spring, and one of the surest signs of spring was here was the voice of ernie harwell. now, growing up, our tigers

weren't always at the top of their game. they had some very tough years there, but somehow that didn't matter when you listened to ernie harwell's voice on the radio. when you heard him describe the game of baseball, you could understand the majesty and the lohr that runs through the -- and the lure that runs through the generations. and what was happened on the field to those listening was very important, and as a child you tend to think that some of the things you inherit or were fortunate enough to happen upon will stay that way forever. and in some ways ernie tried his best. his long, distinguished career allowed a kid like me to think that somehow that voice will go on forever through that radio reminding us of the joyce of what is really a child's game.

and now detroit has lost him, the baseball community has lost him, but we have not lost the resonance of the voice in our hearts. and every time spring comes we'll be reminded of not only the joy that the national pastime is back but we'll be reminded of the joy that was listening to and being with ernie harwell. mr. speaker, at this point if it is in order i would urge all members to support the passage of h.res. 1328, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this resolution, honoring mr. harwell, a colorful character who will be deeply missed by the people, not only of michigan, people throughout this nation. i had an opportunity many, many years ago to hear him, and i'll

be honest with you, even though my team was losing that day, you know, i must admit that i enjoyed hearing his voice even though my team was not on top. mr. speaker, on that note i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 1328. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative -- the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. towns: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the

rules and pass the bill h.res. 1187, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1187, resolution expressing the sense of the house of representatives with respect to raising public awareness of and helping to prevent attacks against federal employees while engaged in or on account of the performance of official duties. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from new york, mr. towns, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. mccotter, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i now yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: with h.res. 1187, this chamber expresses its commitment to the safety and security of our nation's public

servants. h.res. 1187 was introduced by our colleague, the gentleman from virginia, representative jim moran, on march 16, 2010. it was referred to the committee on oversight and government reform, which ordered it reported by unanimous consent on may 6, 2010. the measure enjoys the support of over 70 members of the house. madam speaker, the men and women of our federal work force deserve our appreciation and our support. their efforts are often undervalued, but they provide our nation with many forms of critical services. the federal work force includes firefighters, law enforcement officers and military support personnel. they help keep our food and water clean, defend our borders

and preserve our national parks. they deliver our mail, care for our veterans and provide all manners of our services that keep our country going. and while we in congress may debate the details about the proper role that the federal government should play in our country, we can all agree that federal employees should be able to expect to be able to carry out their duties with a degree of safety and security. the department of justice has filed well over 1,000 cases relating to attacks against federal employees since 2006. including the suicide attack on the internal revenue service office in austin, texas. on february 18 of this year, that attack claimed the life of two vietnam veterans, vernon hunter, the shooting attack at

the entrance of the peng on march 4, injured -- pentagon on march 4, injured the two pentagon guards, and was the fourth attack or scare on a federal building in 2010. these attacks saden us all, and i'm glad that -- sadden us all, and i'm glad that we are affirming our commitment to their safety and their security. i'd like to say -- i thank the gentleman from california, mr. issa, and i also like to thank the gentleman from virginia, mr. moran, for -- and the staff for their work to bring us to where we are today. i urge my colleagues, you know, to join me in supporting this. on that note i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. mccotter: mr. speaker, at this point i'd like to reserve the balance of my time so we might hear from the sponsor of the resolution, the gentleman from virginia, mr. moran.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. towns: i'd yield five minutes to the gentleman from virginia, mr. moran. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for five minutes. mr. moran: thank you, mr. speaker. and i wish to thank the gentleman from new york, the chairman of the committee, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. mccotter. thank you very much for bringing this resolution to the floor. the purpose is to help prevent attacks against federal employees while they are engaged in or on account of the performance of their official duties. last month we commemorated the 15th anniversary of the bombing of the alfred murrah federal building in downtown oklahoma city. this act of violence claimed 168 lives and injured more than 680 people. it was the most destructive act of terrorism on united states soil until the september 11, 2010, attacks.

the oklahoma city bomber, timothy mcveigh, made federal employees his target because he was angry at the united states government. in the 15 years since that horrific bombing, federal employees have been the target of great number of attacks. our internal revenue service employees have born the brunt as those who are frustrated with tax problems have taken their frustration out on i.r.s. workers just doing their jobs, in fact, carrying out the laws that the congress makes. the i.r.s. has recorded some 1,200 attacks on its employees since 2001. attacking a federal employee, engaged in or be cause of his or her work is a federal crime. the justice department investigate some 300 cases per year. now, we're a free society. strong rhetoric is fashionable, but rhetoric should not inspire violence. federal agencies devote significant resources and develop procedures to protect their employees. the two recent attacks on federal employees highlight what i see as a worrying trend.

in february, a plane was flown into the i.r.s. building in austin in an act of murder-suicide, that claimed the life of a veteran of two tours of vietnam. in march, another deranged individual opened fire at the pentagon with a semi automatic weapon injuring two guards. they were acts of domestic terrorism with federal employees as their targets. we have the finest, most professional civil service in the world and we take for granted that all federal workers provide many forms of dedicated and important service to our nation. civilian employees serve in war zones, providing essential support to our military. federal workers maintain our national parks, our wildlife refugees and forest, secure our borders and respond in times of natural disaster as we can see in the gulf oil spill. our diplomats advance our interests around the world sometimes in dangerous environments.

they deserve is reasonable degree of personal safety and security while they are carrying out their tuties, implementing the laws that we make -- their duties, complementing the laws that we make. we have a responsibility, and that's why i've introduced this bill, a responsibility to protect our nation's federal employees. house resolution 1187 calls for a renewed commitment to our civil servants, and thus i urge my colleagues to unanimously support it. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. mccotter: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mccotter: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of house resolution 1187, which increases public awareness to help prevent future attacks against federal employees while engaged in or on account of the performance of their official duties. truly we must do all we can to prevent federal workers from being victims of violence

because of their public service. every year hundreds of federal workers are victims of cowardly acts of violence. in 2008 alone, the department of justice filed 303 cases against people who attacked federal workers and tragically in 2010 we've already witnessed such instances of violence. mr. speaker, our civilian federal employees must not become victims of violence because of their jobs. civilian federal employees must feel safe while they are doing their jobs and serving our country. i ask my colleagues to support this resolution so that we may raise public awareness of these attacks and to prevent future attacks. thus, mr. speaker, i urge all members to support the passage of resolution 1187, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. towns: mr. speaker, i think it is so important that we protect and support our federal

employees. and let me again urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this measure. on that note, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 1187 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass house resolution 1299. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1299, resolution supporting the goals and ideals of peace officers memorial day. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida, mr. deutch, and the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. deutch: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration, and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. deutch: mr. speaker, this resolution honors our law enforcement community by supporting the observance of peace officers memorial day. since 1962, may 15 has been

recognized as peace officers memorial day. and the week of may 15 has been designated as police week. for nearly 50 years we have continued this observance as we honor the men and women of our nation's law enforcement agencies. they protect our neighborhoods, our homes and our loved ones, as we are grateful. the men and women who dedicate their careers to our safety do so at the expense of spending long hours away from their families, putting themselves at great risk, and in too many instances, making the ultimate sacrifice. on average, one law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty somewhere in this nation every 53 hours. unfortunately, since the beginning of this year, we have lost 58 officers. despite the present danger, these dedicated professionals continue to make sacrifices for their communities without asking thanks or praise. the law enforcement professionals and police officers who toil our

communities across this nation deserve our unwavering support and our thankful recognition. i commend my colleague there from texas for introducing this important resolution. i urge my colleagues to support it and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. poe: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. poe: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in support of h.res. 1299, supporting the goals and ideals of peace officer memorial day. every year the president issues a proclamation naming may 15 as national peace officers memorial day. of course in the days leading up to may 15, thousands of peace officers and their families come to washington, d.c. they come here to remember their fellow officers and their loved ones who have given their lives all in the line of duty. they participate in conferences and memorial services. they honor the memories of those who work so hard to protect our communities and in the end made

the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives for the rest of us. americans have been protected by peace officers for 217 years, ever since the early settlers in boston, massachusetts. they established a program called night watch to safeguard those bostonans. not a day goes by that law enforcement officers do not face danger in their mission to keep us safe from crime, acts of violence and, now, terrorism. on may 17, 1792, new york city's deputy sheriff isaac smith became the first recorded peace officer to be killed in the line of duty. mr. speaker, since that time, 18,600 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty. let me repeat. 18,600 peace officers in the united states have been killed in the line of duty. on average, 58,000 law enforcement officers are assaulted every year and in 2009

125 of those officers were killed protecting other americans. five of those faulten officers were from my home state -- fallen officers were from my home state of texas. those individuals were senior corporal normal smith of the dallas police department. he was killed by gunfire on june 6, 2009. lieutenant stewart alexander from the corpus christi police department. he was killed by vehicle lar assault on march 11, 2009. sergeant randy white of the bridgeport p.d. was killed by vehicle pursuit on april 2, 2009. houston police officer henry kanalis was killed by gunfire on june 23, 2009 and jesse hamilton was killed on august 25 by gunfire and he was a member of the pasadena -- pasadena police department of the state of texas. 2009 was particularly difficult year for peace officer families. on the 21st day of march, 2009, four members of the oakland, california, police department were shot and killed in the line

of duty. sergeants mark dun began, irvin romans, dan sack aye and officer john haguey gave their lives in service to their fellow americans and we honor them in their service today. on november 29, 2009, four members of the lakewood police department in washington were brutally ambushed as they sat in a coffee shop catching up on paperwork and planning for their upcoming shift. sergeant mark ren ger and tina griswold, ronald owens, gregg richards were all veteran law enforcement officers, each with eight to 15 years of experience. this loss was a staggering blow to the lakewood community and the national community of peace officers. we continue to mourn the senseless loss and honor them for their service. although there have been great progress -- has been great progress in protecting the safety of thue these men and women who wear the uniform, the death of every officer serves as a reminder to the overwhelm

country that our nation's law enforcement officers face potentially dangerous and deadly situations every day. during my 20 years as a judge in texas i had the privilege of working alongside some of america's finest plfer mr. -- police officers. later during my term on the bench, some of those police officers were killed in the line of duty. now as a founder and co-chair of the congressional victims rights caucus, i recognize that peace officers are too often victims of crimes they seek to prevent. when a peace officer puts on a uniform in the morning they represent everything that is good, everything that is right about our country. and i am privileged to honor them here today. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. deutch: mr. speaker, i thank my colleague from texas. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized -- recognized. mr. poe: i ask the gentleman if he has any other speakers?

the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman have any other speakers? mr. deutch: i do not, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. poe: i'm prepared to close and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: mr. speaker, we in the house of representatives need to understand that -- remember that outside these halls, on the rooftops and around the capitol, are the capitol police officers, watching and protecting those who come to the people's house, to the capitol building and the surrounding buildings. and we need to rore this -- remember that in 1998, two of those capitol police officers, jacob chestnut and detective john gibson, were killed in the line of duty in this very building as they were protecting other members of congress from a gun-wielding assailant that came into this place. we should always remember that these peace officers every day are a cut above the rest of us. and they do represent everything that's good and fine and right about america.

later this week, not far from here, on the west side of the capitol, there will be the families of the slain police officers in the united states. surrounding them in a group will be thousands and thousands of peace officers in the united states all wearing the uniform, with a badge that they wear above their heart and a black cloth across that badge. those people stand in honor of those families that have lost loved ones who were peace officers that represented the rest us and were killed in the line duty. we owe them everything that we can say that is good and noble about their work. we honor them, we pray praise those that are in the line of duty, we honor those killed in the line of duty and we remember their families. i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is

recognized. mr. deutch: mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues to support this resolution and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suend the rules and agree to house resolution 1299. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the gentleman from texas. the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? mr. deutch: i move to suspend the rules and pass house resolution 1094. the speaker pro tempore: the clerks will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1094, resolution commemorating the life of the late cynthia

delores tucker. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida, mr. deutch, and the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. deutch: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. deutch: and yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. deutch: mr. speaker, house resolution 1094 commemorates the life of the late cynthia delores tucker. cynthia delores tucker dedicated her life to eliminating racial barriers by championing civil rights and the rights of women. in particular ms. tucker realized that voting was the most important civil right denied to african-americans and the key to changing this country. she spent her career in service to the principle that there could be no equality without equal access to the ballot box. on october 4, 1927, the 10th of

11 children, she grew up in philadelphia during the great depression. overcoming a childhood marked by economic hardship and segregation, to attend temp university and later the university of pennsylvania. in what will become the first step in her long career as a civil rights activist, ms. tucker worked to register african-american voters during the 1950 philadelphia memorial campaign. shortly therefore she became active in local politics, serving as the first african-american and woman on the philadelphia zoning board. driven by her brief belief that sno one should be denied the right to participate in democracy, she went to to participate in the white house conference on civil rights and to march from selma to montgomery with dr. king in support of the 1965 voting rights bill. in 1971 ms. tucker was named secretary of the commonwealth of pennsylvania by then governor shap, making her the first female african-american to hold

this position in any state in the nation. under her leadership as secretary of the commonwealth, pennsylvania became one of the first states to pass the equal rights amendment, to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 and to institute voter registration through the mail. after leaving her position in pennsylvania state government, she continued to dedicate her time to public service and the promotion of civil rights through private organizations. she served as a member of the board of trustees of the naacp and on numerous other boards, including the points of foundation and delaware county college. in 1984, ms. tucker co-founded the national political congress of black women, now known as the national congress of black women, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the educational, political, economic and cultural development of african-american women and their families. mr. speaker, cynthia delores tucker was a crusader for civil rights and the rights of women. through her dedication to voting

rights and the civil rights movement, she helped transform the perception of race and gender in the united states. i'd like to commend my colleague, ms. watson, for introducing this resolution. it's important that this nation remember and honor the outstanding work of civil rights activists like ms. tucker. i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. poe: mr. speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: thank you, mr. speaker. in the last h.res. that we just discussed, peace officers memorial day, h.res. 1299, i also want to mention the fact that deputy sheriff shane thomas debt whiler in texas was killed in the line of duty on july 13, 2009, and his cause of death was gunfire. in this resolution, h.res. 1094, of course i support this

resolution and this resolution commemorates the late -- the life of the late cynthia delores tucker. ms. tucker dedicated her life to eliminating racial barriers and fighting for civil rights and rights of women in 1927 she was born in philadelphia, her dad was a minister. after overcoming financial hardship and segregation during the great depression she attended temple university and the university of pennsylvania. as particulate of the post war civil rights movement, she worked to register african-american voters in the 1950 philadelphia mayors race. she later became the first african-american and the first woman to serve on the philadelphia zoning board. then in 1965 she marked -- marched from selma to montgomery, alabama, with dr. martin luther king jr. in support of the 1965 voting rights act. in 1971 she became secretary of the state of pennsylvania, making her the first female african-american secretary of state in the whole united

states. in 1984 ms. tuckered the national political congress of black women, today known as the national congress of black women. and with the help of this organization she cticized the promotion of drugs and violence in gangster rap music and also how women were treated -- treated in the music industry. she was also the founding member of the national women's political caucus and she was head of the minority caucus of the democratic national committee. her life's work on behalf of racial and gender equality truly reap fruitful change in our country. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution. i commend the sponsor of this resolution, diane watson from california, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. deutch: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida reserves. the gentleman from texas.

mr. poe: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. deutch: thank you, mr. speaker. i urge my colleagues to commemorate the life and to honor the legacy of cynthia delores tucker by supporting this resolution and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house resolution 1094. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agree -- agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the concurrent resolution, s.con.res. 62. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: senate concurrent resolution 62, concurrent resolution a concurrent resolution congratulating the outstanding professional public servants, both past and present, of the natural resources conservation service on the occasion of its 75th anniversary. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from pennsylvania,

mr. holden, and the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. lucas, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. holden: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the concurrent resolution, s.con.res. 62. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. holden: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. holden: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of s. conresolution 62, -- s. complet res. 62, a concurrent resolution congratulating the outstanding professional public servants, both past and present, of the natural resources conservation service on the occasion of its 75th anniversary. i am proud to say that members on both sides of the aisle support this resolution. i join agriculture committee chairman collin peterson, ranking member frank lucas, and many others on the agriculture committee in co-sponsoring the house resolution in recognizing an important federal agency that allows our farmers and

ranchers to practice since its inception since 1935. in response to the dust bowl disaster that devastated vast stretches of our land, the agency was originally known as the sole conservation service. in 1994, the agency's name changed to the natural resources conservation service to more accurately reflect its role in protecting all natural resources, not only soil, but also air, water, plants and animals. nrcs provides technical and financial assistance at locals levels, thus recognizing the diversity of the land in its country and the unique concerns in each of the region. in fact, you will see nrcs field offices in nearly every county of the country. it helps local communities carry out thousands of conservation projects which often translate into opportunities for job creation and increased investment in local communities.

mr. speaker, the united states depend as much today on productive soil and abundant high-quality water supply as we did 75 years ago. in fact, given the agriculture and environmental challenges we face, these programs are more important than ever. with this resolution we salute the nrcs professionals, both past and present, who have worked alongside america's local farmers and ranchers for 75 years to help preserve our essential natural resources. i urge my colleagues to support this resolution and to join me in recognizing the great work of the usda natural resource conservation service and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. lucas: thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lucas: mr. speaker, i rise in support of senate concurrent resolution 62 which recognizes the 75 years of service of the natural resources conservation

service, the nrcs, created by congress in 1935, the soil conservation service, now known as the nrcs, has worked hand in hand with local governments, organizations, farmers, ranchers and other landowners to preserve and protect our nation's natural resources on private lands. farmers were conserving long before it became a celebrated trend to go green. they've always had a vested interest in preserving the land that provides for them. partnering with the nrcs, our partners are provided the scientific and technical assistance to implement the most advanced conservation practices in the world. through the nrcs' assistance and kwlementation of conservation programs, -- implementation of conservation programs, they have tea helped to protect soil erosion, increased wetland and improve water and air quality. meeting mounting government

regulations. the environmental gains on these private lands provide benefits far beyond the farm. the benefits of the nrcs' assistance is evident in my home state of oklahoma. the conservation practices implemented by the producers have reduced the removal of topsoil and prevented a recurrence of the disastrous conditions of the 1930's dust bowl from ever happening again. the nrcs also works to protect the safety of our rural communities by rehabilitating old dams and working to implement flood prevention programs. i'd like to thank chairman peterson for his leadership and introducing a similar legislation i have co-sponsored. and i'd also like to thank my colleagues on the ag committee who have helped to craft the greenest farm bills in recent history. most importantly, i want to thank and congratulate the men and women of the natural resources conservation service for the work in the field over years providing our producers

with the assistance to protect our natural resources. and just let me say once again, representing a part of the great state of oklahoma that faced the greatest challenges of both the economic depression of the 1930's and the dust bowl, those good folks at what at that time was the soil conservation service, working with what we would now consider to be very good equipment, working to adopt practices that would make a tremendous difference they have, what can you say? whether it's the nrcs or the old soil conservation service, the same great people for 75 years taking care of our natural resources, thank you. i yield back the balance of my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. holden: the gentleman from oklahoma has yielded back the balance of his time?

i yield back the balance of my time and urge adoption of the use. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to senate concurrent resolution 62. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the concurrent resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until approximately 6:30 p.m. today.

our legislation has received wide support from both the house and senate leadership, the white house, many members of this committee. let me close to make one final point. just because the crisis will result in more legislation, more safety regulations and new safety text nolings does not mean that oil drilling will become completely safe. there is no such thing as too safe not to spill. we were told that. we've learned a different lesson. it is a lesson that certainly for my home state of new jersey a $50 billion tourism industry that's centered -- that senator lautenberg and i represent, fishing fourth largest in the nation, we can't afford that type of drill, that type of spill on the beaches of new jersey and the consequences that it will produce for a

generation. that's what's at stake in the long run. in the short run, madam chair, we should make sure that people will ultimately be compensated, and not simply rely on a company to pay legitimate claims. that's what it means. >> senator, thank you. and finally, senator lemieux. >> thank you, madam chairman, thank you, senator inhofe, for letting us testify at this hearing today. i want to talk about the potential environmental, economic damage that this oil spill could cause to our home state. florida is a state with 1,800 miles of coastline, 1,200 miles of sandy beaches. we have a $65 billion tourism industry. last year we welcomed 80 million visitors. our saltwater fishing industry has a $5 billion impact on our economy, and there are 50,000 floridians who are employed by that industry. recreational boating is an $8 billion impact to our economy, provides $220 -- 225,000 jobs.

i, like other folks who testified here today, had an opportunity to fly out over the spill last week, and you see the devastation this bill is going to cost. and we are three weeks after the spill started, the attempts to stop have not worked. and i think if i could leave this committee with a thought in one point to remember it would be this -- everything must continue to be done to stop the oil spill, but right now the states in the gulf need money to be able to put together mitigation teams, teams to prevent the oil from washing ashore, and they need substantial dollars to do so. we can have hearings and you will have hearings, i'm sure, to find out what went wrong, why it went wrong. you will have hearings to talk about what federal agencies should have done better and should have worked better. what we need right now for florida, for mississippi, for alabama, for louisiana, and for

texas, because as my colleagues said, if this spill continues until the relief valves are drilled, we are going to have oil in the entire gulf of mexico, which potentially could not only get not florida keys and our reefs, but go all the way up the atlantic side, we need an evergreen fund of money that's put forth by british petroleum right now, say, put $1 billion in there, let those dollars go to the states, let the states put emergency response teams up, just like we do during hurricanes, and we know how to do this, but we're going to have local governments, business, volunteers, state government, county government all working together to mitigate that oil coming upon shore. we need to do this for our fisheries, we need to do it for our terrorism and we need it to do it tore our environment and our economy. madam chair, that's the point i really want to leave this committee with is we don't need to be worrying about all the reasons why this happened. we certainly need to continue to work to stop the oil from spilling, but we need dollars

right now in the gulf states to mitigate and prevent this oil from doing tremendous environmental and economic harm. thank you, madam chair. >> thank you very much, senator. thank you, all senators, and i would ask at this time for the three panelists from panel one -- actually, this was mckay, the president of british petroleum, b.p., from the mineral management service, to drill for minerals at the site of the ongoing spill, steven l. newman, the president and c.e.o. of transocean, who owns the oil drilling rig associated with the oil spill, named the deepwater horizon. that lease was -- that rig was leased to b.p. and tim probert is president of global business lines and chief health, safety and environmental officer for halliburton. halliburton let the crementing efforts to temporarily cap the

exploratory well involved in the ongoing spill. men, as you did in the committee, i will administer the oath to you. so if you raise your right hand. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you will give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? let the record show that the witnesses answered in the affirmative. we welcome you here, and we are going to go into your testimony. and so we're going to start with mr. mckay of b.p. welcome. >> thank you, chairman. chairman boxer, ranking member inhofe, members of the committee, my name is lamar mckay and chairman and president of b.p. america. it is obvious we have experienced a tragic set of events. three weeks ago tonight 11 people lost their lives and 17 were seriously injured. my deepest sympathies goes out

to the families -- go out to the families. they have suffered much along the gulf coast. this disaster is impacting everyone along the gulf coast. it's understandable to me. i grew up in mississippi. i lived in louisiana most of my working career. and i know what people are going through. over the last few days i've seen the response firsthand, and i've talked with men and women on the front line. there is a deep and steadfast resolve to do all we human he can to stop this leak, contain this spill and to minimize the damage suffered by the environment and the people of the gulf coast. as a responsible party under the oil pollution act, we will carry out our responsibilities to mitigate the environment, to mitigate the environmental and the economic impact of the

incident. our efforts are part of a unified command that has established -- that was established within hours of the accident and provide a structure for our work with the departments of homeland security and interior as well as defense, energy, osha and other federal agencies as well as affected state and local governments and transocean. we are grateful for the involvement of president obama and members of his cabinet and for the leadership and direction and resources they have provided. we are also grateful to the governors, congressional members, state agencies and local communities of mississippi, alabama, louisiana, texas and florida. i want to underscore that the global resources of b.p. are committed to this effort and have been from the outset. nothing is being spared. everyone understands the enormity of what lies ahead and is working to deliver an

effective response at the well-head on the water and on the shortline. before i scribe our round-the-clock effort to respond to the series of events, i want to reiterate our commitment to what happened. understanding what happened and why it happened is a complex process. we are cooperating with the joint investigation by the departments of homeland security and interior and investigations by congress. in addition, b.p. has commissioned an internal investigation whose results we plan to share so we can all learn were these terrible events. i want to be clear. it is inappropriate to draw any conclusions before all the facts are known. as we speak our investigation team is locating and analyzing data, interviewing available witnesses and reviewing and assessing evidence. and today i think it is

important to give you and the american public an idea of the questions we are asking. there are really two key sets of questions here and we are actively exploring both of them. first, what caused the explosion and fire onboard transocean's deepwater horizon? second, why did transocean's blowout preventer, the key failed safe mechanism, fail to set in the well and release the rig? with respect to the first question, the key issue we are examining is how hydrocarbons could have entered the well board? b.p., as a lease holder and operator of the well, hired transocean to drill the well and fulfill their safety responsibilities. we don't yet -- we don't know yet precisely what happened on the night of april 20, but what we do know is that there were anomalous pressure test readings prior to the explosion. these could have raised concerns about well control prior to the operation to replace mud with sea water in

the well in preparation for setting of the crement plug. through our -- cement plug. throughout our investigation, we learn to -- we hope to learn more about what happened. apart from the causes of the explosion, we're also trying to figure out why the b.o.p. ask not prevent an oil spill. clearly the b.o.p. remains a critical piece of equipment throughout all operations to ensure well control up until the time the well is sealed with a cement plug and is temporarily abappedoned. we will continue full speed ahead with our investigation, keeping all lines of inquiry open, until we find out what happened and why. at the same time we are fully engaged in efforts to respond to these events. our subsea efforts to stop the flow of oil and secure the well involve four concurrent and parallel strategies.

activating the b.o.p. would be the preferred course since it would stop and diminish the flow at the source. unfortunately, this has proved unsuccessful so far. we are working on a containment atop the leaks and conduct flow to a ship at the surface. there have been technical challenges. engineers are now working to see if these challenges can be overcome. we have begun to drill the first of two relief wells designed to intercept and permanently secure the original well. we began drilling the first relief well on may 2 and begin to drill the second one next week. this could take approximately three months. a fourth effort, known as a top kill, uses a tube to inject a mixture of multisized particles directly into the blowout preventer to cap the well. it's a proven industry

technique and has been used worldwide but never in 5,000 feet of water. now, on the open water, a fleet of about 300 response vessels has been mobilized. and about one million feet of boom are now in place with more than a million more feet available. we are also attacking the spill area with coast guard-approved biodegradeable dispersements were are being provided from planes and boats. we've developed and tested a technique to disperse it at the leak point on the seabed. the e.p.a. is carefully analyzing options for this technique's further use. we're implementing what the u.s. coast guard has issued a massive shortline protection effort ever implemented. 14 stages are in place and more than 14,000 volunteers have been trained. we recognize there are both environmental and economic impacts. b.p. will pay all necessary cleanup costs and is committed

to paying legitimate claims for other loss and damages caused by the spill. tragic and unforeseen as this accident was, we must not lose sight of why b.p. and other energy companies are operating in the offshore, including the gulf of mexico. the gulf provides one in four barrels of oil produced in the united states, a resource our economy requires. now, b.p. and the entire energy industry are no under no illusions about the challenges we face. we know we will be judged by our response to this crisis. we intend to do everything in our power to bring this well under control, to mitigate the environmental impact of the spill, and to address economic claims in a responsible manner. no resource available to this company will be spared. i can assure you that we and the entire industry will learn from this terrible event and emerge from it stronger, smarter and safer. thank you very much for the opportunity up here before you today. i'd be happy to answer any of

your questions. >> mr. newman, president and c.e.o. of transocean, who owned the drilling rig associated with the spill, the deepwater horizon. and leased it to b.p. >> thank you, madam chairman boxer, ranking member inhofe, and other members of the committee. i want to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. my name is steven newman. i am the president and chief executive officer of transocean limited. transocean is the leading offshore drilling contractor with more than 18,000 employees worldwide. i am a petroleum engineer by training and i have spent years working on and with drilling rigs. i have worked at transocean for more than 15 years, and i am incredibly proud of the contributions our company has made to the energy industry during that time. i sit before you today, however, with a heavy heart. the last few weeks have been a time of great sadness and reflection for our company. and for me personally.

nothing is more important to me and to transocean than the safety of our crewmembers. and my heartaches for the widows, parents and children of the 11 crewmembers, including nine transocean employees, who died in the deepwater horizon explosion. these were exceptional men and we are committed to doing everything we can to support their families as they struggle to cope with this tragedy. over the last few weeks, we have also seen great acts of courage and kindness in our colleagues and in our communities. that courage and kindness was embodied by the 115 crewmembers who were evacuated from the deepwater horizon and who were as focused on the safety of their colleagues as they were on themselves. it was embodied by the brave men and women of the u.s. coast guard who provided onsite response and search and rescue efforts and the medical professionals and the families

and friends of the crewmembers who were waiting for them when they arrived onshore. and it is embodied by our friends and colleagues at transocean and across the industry who have rallied to help the families of those who were lost in this accident. this has been a very emotional period for all of us at transocean. it has also been a period of intense activity in efforts. immediately after the explosion, transocean began working with b.p. and the unified command in the effort to stop the flow of hydrocash ons from the well. our finest engineers and operational people have been working with b.p. to identify and pursue options for stopping the flow as soon as possible. our drilling rig, the developmental driller 3, is involved in drilling the relief well at the site and our drill ship, the discoverer enterprise, is standing by on location to carry out unique oil recovery operations in the

gulf. we will continue to support b.p. and the unified command in all of these efforts. at the same time, we have also been working hard to get to the bottom of the question to which this committee and the american public want and deserve an answer. what happened on the night of april 20 and how do we assure the american public that it will not happen again? transocean has assembled an independent investigative team to determine the cause of these tragic events, a team that includes dedicated transocean and industry experts. they will be interviewing people who have potentially helpful information and studying the operations and equipment involved. because the drilling process is a collaborative effort among many different companies, contractors and subcontractors, the process of understanding what led to the april 20 explosion and how to prevent such an accident in the future must also be collaborative. our team is working side by side with others, including

b.p. and governmental agencies and these investigative efforts will continue until we have satisfactory answers. while it is still too early to know exactly what happened on april 20, we do have some clues about the cause of the disaster. the most significant clue is that the events occurred after the well construction process was essentially finished. drilling had been completed on april 17, and the well had been sealed with casing and cement. for that reason the one thing we do know is that on the evening of april 20 there was a sudden catastrophic failure of the cement, the casing or both. without a failure of one of those elements the explosion could not have occurred. it is also clear that the drill crew had very little, if any, time to react. the initial indications of trouble and the subsequent

explosion were almost instantaneous. what caused that sudden violent failure? was the well properly designed? were there problems with the casing or the seal assembly? was the casing properly cemented and the well effectively sealed? were all appropriate tests run on the cement and the casing? were the blowout preventers, the b.o.p.'s

exploratory well involved in the ongoing oil spill. >> chairwoman boxer, ranking member inhofe, and members of the committee, thanks for inviting halliburton to testify. we'll continue to work with your staff to collect data to have a better understanding on what took place and what keck collectively do to make sure that oil and domestic gas

production is undertaken in the safest, most environmentally responsible manner possible. the catastrophic blowout and the spread of oil in the gulf of mexico are tragic events to everyone. on behalf of the entire halliburton family, we extend our heart felt sympathy to the family, the friends, the colleagues of the 11 people who lost their lives and those workers who were injured in the tragedy. as we hope can appreciate, neither halliburton nor any party can offer any credible theories about what happened until at a minimum the well owner has interviewed everyone on the deepwater horizon to re-create the daily log of activities for april 20. in the absence of that information, no one should rush to judgment. however, two things can be said with some certainty. the casing shoe was cemented 20 hours prior to the tragic accident. and had it this had been known,

this would not have taken place. halliburton has provided services throughout the life cycle of their reservoirs in the oil and gas strifment with respect to the mississippi canyon 252 well, halliburton was contracted by the well owner to perform a variety of services. these included cementing, mud logging, directional drilling and real-time data acquisition and data delivery services for key personnel onboard the rig and onshore. since the blowout, halliburton has been working to assist in the efforts to bring the well under control. this includes intervention support, to help secure the damaged well, and assistance in drilling one or more relief wells. at the outset, i need to emphasize that halliburton is contractually obligated to work with the well owner. the construction of a deepwater

well is a complex operation involving the performance of many tasks by many parties. while the well owner's representative has authority for planning and things on the rig, cement can be used to isolate formation of fluids to prevent movement of these fluids between formations and to bond and support the steel casing. there are many external efforts that design execution of the job. this involves the geometry, the location of hydrocarbon zones and the hydrocarbon content of the drilling fluids. the placement on the production casing, the drilling fluid conditioning program prior to cementing and the cement slurry and placement design used for this well were implemented as directed by the well owner. by design, there was no continuous cement column in store throughout the entire

well bore. approximately 20 hours prior to the catastrophic loss of well control, halliburton had completed the cement in the ninth and final production casing string in accordance with the well program. following the placement of the cement slurry, the casing seal assembly was set in the casing hangar. in accordance with accepted industry practice, as required by m.m.s. and as directed by the well owner, a positive pressure test was then conducted. to demonstrate the integrity of the production casing strength. the results of the positive tests were reviewed by the well owner and the decision was made to proceed with the well program. the next step included the performance of the negative pressure test which tests the integrity of the casing seal assembly and is conducted by the drilling contractor at the direction of the well owner in accordance with m.m.s. requirements. we understand that halliburton was instructed to record pipe pressure in this test. after being confirmed a

negative test combleeted, personnel were placed on stand by. we understand that the drilling contractor replaced the dense drilling fluid in the riser with lighter sea water prior to the placement of the final cement plug. the drilling fluid being transferred to directly to a -- work alongside a plug. it would have been installed inside the production string and have temporary abandonment of the well. but prior to the point in the well construction plan that the halliburton personnel would have set the final cement plug, the catastrophic event occurred. as a result, the final cement plug was not set. halliburton's confident that the cementing work on the mississippi canyon 252 well was completed in accordance with the requirements of the well owner's well construction plan. before closing, though, i would really like to respectfully address an issue that senators lautenberg and udall race

raised about the spill in all-star. a commission of inquire -- spill in australia. a commission of inquiry is still under way. halliburton had the cement job according to the well owner's direction. and public testimony tells us that the well control event occurred some five months after the well completed cementing operations. we understand that neither the drilling contractor nor the well owner performed integrity testing on that cement job, and a subsequent event caused that incident. thanks for the opportunity to share halliburton's views, and i look forward to answering your questions. >> thank you very much. mr. mckay, we have heard from the media that there's a lot of b.p. video of the spill and there have been requests to see it to look at the spill volume because it seems we can't get a true picture. we've heard four million gallons. is that what you estimate we've spilled so far? >> i think the estimate is

5,000 barrels a day for the last 20 days. so if that -- doing the math, if that's right, 42 gallons per barrel so have to do the math. as far as videos, there is -- there are some videos and pictures that are on the united -- unified area command site. i believe they are actually trying to add to that in terms of -- >> our understanding is there's far more than has been released. would you get back to this committee? we would be interested in viewing those and making those public. would you get back to us on how many of the videos have still not been shown to the public? >> how many of the -- >> get back to us on how much footage that has not been shown to the public? >> ok. >> and make that available to us? >> yes. everything goes through unified area command, yes. >> all right. mr. probert, i was taken by your testimony. it seems to me you're blaming the well owner in all the cases here.

in other words, you don't do any testing unless they ask you? you don't test the cement? if they don't ask you don't do it? you take no responsibility? >> i think that i certainly was not intending to suggest that in any way. i was simply trying to clarify the roles of the parties. there are two tests which are undertaken on the integrity of the well itself. one is called a positive pressure test which tests the integrity of the production of a string of casing itself. the second is called a negative pressure test and that tests the integrity of the assembly, which is the top of the casing string where it sits in the well-head. with respect to the cement itself, it is obviously an engineered product and that it can subsequently be tested when it's been pumped in the well using a variety of techniques. >> and do you recommend that test be done? >> that testing is done at the discretion of the well owner.

>> that's the point i'm getting at. so let's just say the well owner doesn't do it, do you feel you have any responsibility to urge them to do it given what did happen on australia? >> the m.m.s. is fairly clear on this point. if it is felt, for example, that the integrity of the cement is in question, such as there is an event called loss of returns and that means during the pumping of a cement job, no return is received at the surface. >> sir, i'm sorry i have so little time. >> yeah. >> so i guess my question is, if you felt that the well owner was not testing the cement, would you feel any bration to request that they do so? >> we would feel an obligation if we felt that the integrity of the cement was in question, yeah. >> thank you my question, thank you. mr. mckay, prior to the incident on the deepwater horizon rig, b.p. was quite confident in its ability to deal with an oil spill there. in february of this year, b.p.

submitted to m.m.s. an initial exploration plan for the area where the deepwater horizon incident occurred. and in that plan, b.p. said, "due to the distance to shore, 48 miles, and the response capabilities that would be implemented, no adverse impacts are expected for beaches, for with thelands, for short birds and coastal nesting birds, for coastal wildlife refugees and for fisheries." your words then. however, b.p.'s certainty and its ability to deal with the spill are in sharp contrast with what has been said now, that a national spill has occurred. yesterday b.p. released a statement regarding its effort to control the leak that said, "all of the techniques being attempted or evaluated to contain the flow of oil in the seabed involves significant uncertainties," and these are your words again, "because they have not been tested in these conditions before." i tell you.

just putting those two statements side by side, it's a stark difference in what you said before and what you're saying now. how do you reconcile the stark difference in what you said in trying to get this project going without a big long environmental impact statement, which you got and what you're saying now that these conditions have never occurred before? >> we obviously did not expect a situation like this. the conditions they're working in is unique. it's in 5,000 feet of water. it's the first time that something like this has happened. this is an unprecedented accident. obviously when that document you're quoting was turned in we weren't expecting this. i think the spill response plan has actually been a good foundation to deal with this. if we look at what we're doing, fighting this thing as

aggressively as we can offshore, with dispersements, skimming resources, those resources have come to bear and booming of the spill response that was in place and enacted in 2009. the subsidies and interventions that we're doing are first of its kind, you're right. >> i know -- i know that you're working very hard. i'm not questioning that at all. i am just saying, when you look back to the documents that you filled out, when you were asking for a no long environmental impact statement, you want to be exempt from it all, and you got all that, you said then, "it's unlikely that we're going to have been an impact because we are using proven equipment and proven technology." my time has run out. but i want to say that we can't have a world where people say one thing before they get a permit and then just act like

they never said it. you said we won't have a problem, and then we have a tragedy like this. and i'm just saying we need to do better. and that's why i am supporting separating out the oversight of moving forward with these drilling projects from the safety oversight. .

still stand by the statement that i rather you go ahead and get that done and then the blame game can take place later. the senator from pennsylvania implied that a lot of the technologies and the things that were being done haven't really changed over the years and it's my understanding and we are trying to get into this thing and learn what it's about. mr. mckay, the use of

diss%ments, i understand that the type that you are using, it is biodegradeable and newer than what has been used before. would you comment on this technology and does this improve over a period of time? >> they were pre-approved -- >> they were not the same ones that were used. >> very latest versions of dispersements. when we talk about technology, it's method, what scale and how they're being deployed. on the surface, i won't go into detail, we have an air force flying with dispersements. the e.p.a. is monitoring very closely, inject them at the

source effectively. we believe that will allow less to be used per unit of affected oil. this is being done in trials now. we hope to go to -- >> with the e.p.a. and the coast guard i understand they are involved in this thing, too. the m.m.s. has been beat up pretty bad. one of the reasons for that is they have come out and said we have done something right in terms of trying to monitor these things. i remembered and i asked the staff to get this for me, dated january 29 of 2009 when we made a big issue out of the problems, the problems that existed at m.m.s. and secretary salazar, he launched this reform and he put tom strickland in charge. i thought that pretty much had worked. and mr. newman, this safety record, i thought, was pretty

impressive that the m.m.s. had conducted 26 inspections on deepwater horizon in the past five years. is that unusual? is that what has been happening in the past? what's the story on the swat teams referred to by salazar? is that an inconsistency and saying we are doing something we should have done before. >> there are two parts to your question. one has to do with the relationship between transocean, the drilling contractor and the m.m.s. and the way i would characterize our relationship with the m.m.s. is they show up on our drilling rigs regularly, unannounced. they conduct thorough inspections of the drilling rigs. they know what to look for and they are thorough and rigorous. >> when they come up unannounced, what kind of

frequency? >> the frequency was 26 times on the deepwater horizon. they are out there once a month, every other month. they are out there routinely. >> you were the recipient of an award that was for quote, outstanding drilling operations and perfect performance. these efforts were out there and does that imply that would imply that you have been complying with the regulations that m.m.s. had? >> yes, senator. >> mr. mckay, it is confusing to a lot of us. we look at the stacks here and i know you can't see that. you live with that on a daily basis. when we're dealing with this, they apparently have different rams that were on the b.o.p. stacks. you want to briefly discuss the

different purposes of each one. why do you have more? is this redundancy and how does it work? >> perhaps mr. newman can help me. they have different set of rams or valves, valves that can close around different sizes of pipe and rams that can shear and steel. there are different types of rams and this b.o.p. had different types of rams. >> mr. newman? >> i would be happy to tell you about the b.o.p. on the deppwater horizon. there are two basic closing mechanisms. the industry refers to it as a ram-type preventer and that closes large blocks. the other one is a preventer which squeezes the doughnut

around any pipe that would be in the well. the deppwater horizon was fitted with five ram-time preventers and the blocks can have openings in the center so that would facilitate the ram closing around pipes. the rams have sharp edges. >> i appreciate that very much. my time has expired, but i do want to ask a question for the record and can respond to it later concerning the cementing. >> thank you, senator. >> thank all of you for your testimony. one thing is certain that each one of you must feel terrible torment about what is going on and i know that you do. but the fact of the matter is, you had the responsibility to make sure that everything was just right in the processing

here. you all know that you are in an industry that can produce wonderful things also within the orbit within which you're working. you can also be witness to terrible, terrible situations, as we have seen here. and i would ask each one of you -- and i know that there are parts to the puzzle that each one of you puts together. and i would ask you first, mr. mckay, is b.p. the party responsible for the leak? >> we don't know who's responsible for what yet. the investigations will look at the processes, the equipment and the decisions that were made.

>> i don't want to cut you off, but i want to try to move along. mr. newman, is your company responsible for the eruption that occurred from the rig? >> senator, until we understand the root cause of the event, i don't think it's appropriate to speculate on who or what might be responsible. >> yeah, well, i know that everybody -- there is a bit of -- if you forgive me -- bit of a handoff that i think is taking place. >> everyone is working hard collectively to pull the facts together so we can diagnose what exactly did take place. >> the conclusion i draw is that nobody assumes the responsibility, whether yet or

because of the time. the fact is that what it says to me is that these projects, as valuable as theyr bring with them a level of danger that is a very heavy risk to the nearby seashores, communities, states, et cetera. and that's what concerns me about this willingness or intention to continue drilling. we do need to have an oil supply. we do need to have it available to the public, we also need just as intensely as we do investing in these drilling programs, just as intensely do we have to find alternative renewable sources that are sustainable. and i don't see it. and i come out of the business

world. i spent 30 years in corporate world, company today that has 40,000 employees and i was one of the founders of that company. and i know how -- what i recognize in the balance sheet in p and l statements. b.p. in the quarter that just ended, the end of march, 133% gain, 3.2 billion. is there any challenge to that, mr. mckay? >> no. >> and i heard the secretary of the interior declare publicly that b.p. was going to be responsible for the cleanup there for whatever resources it

took to do it. i then heard and i don't remember whether it was you, sir, or someone else in the company who said, reasonable claims, is that correct? >> legitimate claims. >> legitimate claims. so that's already an area of protection that you are putting around this thing. we'll make a judgment about the claims that are legitimate and those who are willing to pay. but it says also that there's a lot of claims that might not be legitimate and you're going to reserve the opportunity to make your decision when the situation occurs. >> could i clarify the intent? the intent is to be fair, expeditious and address all claims.

this is not legal words. we are a responsible party as the lease holder and we'll live up to every single responsibility under that. >> at some point, all of you will be involved in anything that occurs by way of expense. mr. newman, i think i read correctly -- >> last question, senator. >> when you said that you had completed your task before the explosion occurred, am i right? >> senator, i indicated that drilling operations -- the process of actually deepening the well had completed on april 17. >> madam chairman, i ask unanimous consent that my full statement be entered into the record and i ask you whether

we're going to have a chance to ask further questions because i know you have another panel coming? >> here's the situation, colleagues. we have four votes scheduled -- pretty soon, right -- are they scheduled? we expect them to start around 4:30. we will have to recess at that point. my hope is because we have a whole other panel to complete this round and have everybody do written questions and i'm sure, gentlemen, you will be pleased to answer those, is that correct? and that would be very helpful. we could probably go to quarter of 5:00. senator. >> thank you all for testifying. as i said in my opening statement, between the task of stopping the flow and cleaning up the oil, there's a critical challenge that i'm very focused

on with folks in louisiana, which is blocking the oil as much as possible before it hits land, in particular, before it gets into marshland. barrier islands beach is one thing and i'm not trivializing that. once it gets into louisiana marshland, it is delicate and a lot more complicated. in that effort, boom and realted supply is critical. that is the currency of the entire effort. i have two questions, mr. mckay, relate todd that. first is this. on friday, i sent admiral allen a letter and i copied others that pointed out that according to the latest unified command statistics, there was an enormous inequity in terms of boom going to states.

mississippi was getting about one mile for every 1.423 miles of vulnerable coastline, taking a 200-mile radius. that covers their coastline. alabama was one mile to every 1.76 coastline. louisiana was a mile for every 13 1/2 and that is covering mississippi and alabama coastlines and about half of louisiana's. it's an order of magnitude difference. what is being done to create that? >> two pieces to your question. one is the supply chain for boom is being enlarged. i don't have a foot number, but a sustainable amount of boom that we can continue to do this for quite a period of time. secondly, there is several million feet of feet being flown

in. and i spoke to union fide command yesterday about shifting and redeploying to protect as the sheehan and things move around. i believe that the union fide area command is looking at this and we are working with your parish presidents and the area contingency plans to effectively shift and get that over there. >> if your team -- i'm going to submit this letter for the record about the inequity and if your team could get an up-to-the-minute response, that would be great. with regard to the overall supply line of boom and related materials, let me just say that the experience on the ground, on the front line, if you will, is still very frustrating and very uncertain in terms of that actually showing up. and so i just commend that to

you as well. mr. mckay, a related point, as you know, there has been a major proposal to do emergency dredging to build up and extend barrier islands off of louisiana to close smaller gaps between sections of barrier islands as part of this protection. it's basically a lot more effective than boom, which is in limited supply anyway. does b.p. have a specific response to that, because obviously, all of these efforts are very time sensitive? >> again, i believe that proposal and that plan is being reviewed as we speak in unified area command, so that is the mechanism, the structure, that we're operating under. and in the last couple of days, they have been reviewing that. i don't have the latest up-to-date information today but they are reviewing it.

>> that's certainly true. as i understand it, the federal agencies, including the corps, which has to issue a permit, including e.p.a. are fine with this and are essentially awaiting a decision on movement from b.p. so i think that's a broad, but accurate description of where it is. so when can we expect a clear reaction decision from b.p.? >> i will take that back for immediate understanding. >> again, if you all could respond to me and others, that would be great. and another very important -- if i could wrap up quickly, big concern, mr. mckay, as you can imagine is using as much local labor and assets in the response as possible because these are

the people hurting from the spill. and b.p. has made a commitment to that. the problem is in practice, we're seeing a lot of cases where it's not happening. and it's reminiscent for us to a lot of the response after katrina and rita, where all these enormous mega companies came in from out of state and did an enormous amount of the work and occasionally hired locals five levels down the chain as subcontractors. let me just give you one concrete example -- >> senator, we have a vote that started and senator cardin and others are waiting. you can come back -- >> can i wrap up the question? >> i thought you were wrapping up. i'm trying to get regular order if i can. >> what is b.p. doing to prevent what has been happening in the last few days of local labor and

resources not being exhausted before being brought in from elsewhere? >> we recognize the issue and will continue. >> senator, have it in writing. senator cardin. >> let me thank the three of you for being here. mr. mckay, i want to talk about b.p.'s initial exploration plan and i say that because we understand the risks involved in any type of operation but it's important that accurate information is made available about the potential risks, the potential environmental damages and the capacity to respond to that. the plan that you submitted in part is used by the agency to determine whether the environmental waivers should be granted or not. so chairman boxer read part of what was included in b.p.'s initial exploration plan as related to our beaches. and they are related to water

quality. and i'm quoting. it is unlikely an accidental oil leak would occur. in the event, it would be temporarily affected by dissolve components and small droplets. you then go on to talk about the fish habitat. in any event of an unanticipated blowout resulting in an oil spill, it is unlikely to have an impact based on the industry-wide standards for using proven equipment and technology for such responses. my question to you is, would you say that the risk assumptions regarding the impacts, not the likelihood, but the impacts of such event were accurate? >> obviously in hindsight, we did not something -- expect something of this magnitude and impact. the permit is what it said, it is unlikely and i believe it is

unlikely. >> there are two questions. one is the likelihood of this event occurring and the second is the impact of such an event. and what i'm trying to focus on, in the event this were to occur, do you believe that you accurately portrayed the impact to the environment of such an episode? >> i'm saying based on the available data going into that, that was an accurate representation. >> and that's based upon as i understand it, proven equipment and technology to deal with an episode? >> yes. that was predicated on spill response technology. >> the proven equipment and technology includes the blowout preventers and that's because they repeatedly described the blowout of any spill is unlikely. isn't it accurate that industry touted these blowout preventers as fail-safe? >> we do consider them to be one

of the last -- there are multiple barriers and blowout preventers is -- they are fail closed is how they are supposed to operate. >> m.m.s. state that blowout preventers played a role in at least 14 accidents. most of them have occurred since 2005. 2003 report noted that poor b.p. reliability is a common and costly issue. my question to you, was it accurate to portray the proven equipment would prevent this type of an environmental disaster? was that accurate? >> i believe given the data at the time it was accurate. obviously, this is an unprecedented accident and it's going to be reviewed in every way it can be reviewed to understand what -- >> i'm losing your response here. i understand the risk issue.

i'm talking about the environmental damage. you rely upon the blowout issue, that it's been proven in the past not to have worked. i don't know how you could accurately portray to the regulatory agency the minimal risk in the event of a blowout. >> all i can say there has been 43,000 wells drilled in gulf of mexico. the data that goes into that recognizes some of the data in the gulf of mexico. >> one last question, was the report friday accurate that m.m.s. has granted another environmental exception for a deepwater horizon that will be 4,000 feet deep that you are being given another environmental waiver? >> you may be referring to the relief well for our crisis response here. i don't know. the horizon is sunk -- >> are you seeking further

environmental waivers at this point? >> the way the environmental waivers work or the exclusions work, there was an environmental impact statement done -- >> are you seeking environmental waivers? >> we are seeking what would be an industry standard exclusion because that work has been done through the lease sale and the grid environmental assessments prior. >> here's where we are. there is a lot of interest, so i'm going to have to ask you to stay, gentlemen. but we'll have time for senator alexander and then we'll vote and return and return with you three senators. >> thanks, madam chair. mr. mckay, i heard an interview by the chief executive of b.p. and i believe he described the intry cassie of this drilling is similar to open heart surgery at

5,000 feet, is that correct? >> the description was about using remote-operated vehicles at 5,000 feet and doing connections and cutting hydraulic lines and rethreading things. >> that's a good way to think about it, it would be like open heart surgery at 5,000 feet? >> not a bad analogy. >> if you had open heart surgery, would you want your doctor 5,000 feet away? >> i wouldn't. >> i'm wondering even the most skilled physician or the most skilled operator would have to be very skilled to be always successful at 5,000 feet. wouldn't there be substantially less risk of an incident like this with drilling that are was not in such deep water?

>> we were working on a piece of equipment that had failed and working on a piece of equipment that had hoses that were leaking and we were reworking those hoses in response to get that blowout preventer closed. that is not normal operation. >> someone was drilling at 5,000 feet. is that mr. newman? >> we are the lease operator. transocean drills the well, owns the -- >> you were -- i mean, i think it's eant description being at 5,000 feet and dealing with the intricate things at that depth is an achievement. as a matter of policy, wouldn't it be wise to consider just as we might in medical policy for doctors to get closer to their

patients if they were going to perform such an separation -- operation? wouldn't it be better -- is it a good idea to drill at 5,000 feet? >> i think there have been over 3,000 wells drilled in deep water and this is the first accident of this kind. the important thing is to understand what happened such it won't happen again. i understand we will understand what happened. >> how many wells are there in the gulf of mexico? >> over 42,000 wells drilled in the last 50 years in the gulf of mexico. >> what percent of the united states' production of oil comes from the gulf of mexico? >> 25%, 30%. >> nearly all comes from the gulf of mexico? >> correct. >> what would the price of

gasoline be if we closed it down? >> i can't predict it. less supply is not good for price. >> the oil pollution act, and i believe you said this, b.p. is the responsible party by legal definition, correct? >> we are the responsible party, yes. >> you pay all response costs associated with the accident and that includes costs borne by the state and federal governments and contractors that are legitimate, is that correct? rir that is correct. >> you might have liability of $75 million on top of that? >> in regards to the $75 million, we expect to exceed that and that is irrelevant. >> there is something called the oil spill liability trust fund. what costs would the oil spill -- what is that and what costs would the oil spill liability

trust fund pay in addition to the ones you just described? >> i think that's in play for folks who cannot pay. so we would not be accessing that. >> thank you, senator. we appreciate you patience. we're going to vote and come back and do another round of questioning. and we stand adjourned until after the votes and thank you very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

>> the senate environment committee taking a break. four votes on the senate floor and we'll have more coverage of that senate environment committee when they return. the house is also on a break now, eight bills scheduled for today and will gavel back in at 6:30 for recorded votes and special order speeches. we'll have live coverage here on c-span. and taking a look at the latest

figures for the economic stimulus program, more than $3882 billion has been committed to recovery projects and more than $226 billion has been paid out. a reminder, check c-span.org for statistics and analysis and links to outside sites tracking the money. >> the cameras were in the courtroom. the american public would see an amazing and extraordinary event. >> solicitor general elena kagan is president obama's nominee to replace justice john paul stevens. find key moments from her past appearances online, every program since 1987. watch when you want, and what you want. >> while we wait for more live coverage, we will hear from steven hadley from "washington

journal" talking about national security issues. u.s.-china relations. formally . stephen hadley, welcome to "washington journal." could you give context of president karzai and what is going on in afghanistan. guest: president karzai is the elected leader of afghan and he will be the representative and the president will treat karzai as that elected leader and give him the respect he deserves and build a personal

leadership. they face great challenges and personal leadership matters and this will be a candid meeting for them to build a stronger relationship. host: you use the word candid and stronger relationship, is it that their relationship is not strong in your opinion? guest: it's been a bumpy relationship and there are public reflections and doubt about karzai's leadership and not fighting corruption. and to make the hard decisions and it was unfortunate that was such a public issue. a rule of thumbhen you deal with allies is to praise in public and criticize in private. early on in the administration it got that reversed. but i think they have taken some

good steps and i think that president obama is right to have him come for this visit. it's an important visit. and it seems clear that the administration is going out of their way to put their best foot forward and to turn the page on the last relationship and get a firm footing going forward. host: as far as that firm footing what are the implications of the neighbor pakistan? guest: there are tough issues that need to be worked through. there is a coming operation that will be important for the military dimension. president karzai had reservations about it. and president karzai has talked about reconciliation and having meetings with broad spectrum perhaps with representatives from taliban. i know that the u.s. government

has reservations about that. it's important to have a common exchange and how to approach the reconciliation. there are tough decisions tt both countrys have to make, and be made with a good understanding and coordinated approach. host: what do do the events of what happened here in the united states and the connection to pakistan? guest: we have been worried about the tribal areas of pakistan. it's a witch's brew of al-qaeda and afghan taliban and other groups. and it's a source of threat to obviously pakistan an across the border to afghanistan. and also as we have seen

potentially to the united states as well. and i think in a way the administration has been lucky. because with this time square attempt and the christmas bombing attempt going int the airport in detroit, we had two wake-up calls. two terrorist efforts thatid not succeed because of failures on part of the terrorist. it's been useful to help the administtion relook at our processes and procedures to counter these incidents and rengthenthem. and in theprocess, no one died. two wake-up calls and no one died, that's a good thing for the country. and it reminds the country and administration that terrorism is still in the country today. host: is it a weakness to

describe? guest: it's one thing that you can get better, this is an enemy that does adapt and use new methods. and people say it's the truism in preventing terror, you have to be right 0% of the time. if a terrorist, you only have to be right 1%. host: what is changing? guest: in response to the christmas bombing there are improvements of the watch list. i think that's improving ensuring when the watch lists come out from the government and the airplanes put on their list and use it as part of their screening processes. every time you learn from this, you can learn and improve the system. and that's what the administration is doing.

host: we will here until 10 o'clock, with the lines for democrats and republicans and independents to call. the e-mail is c-span.org, and our first call is fromjupiter, florida, go ahead. caller: hi, i wanted to ask about russia's recent offer to destroy the poppy fields that make the opium, and i guess the u.s. declined saying it would disrt the local, agriculture income and we have to protect that. i found it curious when the taliban ruling that poppy growing was not allowed, it was against their religion and it ses we are giving the impression that we are supporting the poppy fields. and we all agree that this mon is funding the terrorists.

and if we take a strong position on the terrorists, we should take a strong position of getting rid of the poppy fields. guest: you are right, the length between poppies and the teroffists and the illegal fundinis right. and it's an enormous problem. the government has been working on that problem, the united states government in close coordination with the afghan government. but obviously we have not made nearly the progress required. and part of the problem is the issue of how to attack the problem. there are a number of things, you want to interdict those taking the poppy and trading it on the black market and making the profits. and you want to interdict the

livelihoods of the farmers. and there is a big issue of the eradication and the united states has pushed under the bush administration to use airplanes and to spread chemicals that would kill the poppy. that's very controversial in the afghan context. many americans believe that's the best way to approach getting rid of the poppy. the afghan government is very reluctant because of this issue, and that's a huge problem, we have to get it under control. and quite frankly under two administrations so far the efforts have not been up to the task. host: memphis, tennessee, go ahead, delores on the democratic line. caller: good morning, i was calling in to ask him about our national security.

how in the world can we stop someone who is willing to blowup themselves and willing to hurt others. you don't know when it's going to happen. it's people out there ready to destroy us. and there a reason, i want to know why everyone hurts americans. you know why? america is stepping in everyone's business trying to control other countries. people in their country like like it and when they explain insurgents. they are the angry people over there like the black people are angry how they were treated in the 60's. and need to stop these iraqi, pakistan people, innocent people are getting killed by our so-called drones. that's the reason the people are angry. guest: there is obviously a lot of anger in the countries. i think we have to recognize the

reason we are in afghanistan, because afghanistan under the taliban was a safe haven for al-qaeda. and they mounted the attack on 9/11 that killed 3000 people in this country. d preside bush gave them the opportunity to shut down the camps and taliban did not take opportunity and why we a in afghanistan. and you need to be allied with the common people with the problem. the afghan were not happy living under the taliban, it was a brutal form of existence. women were discriminated against, it was a brutal regime.

and we tried to do it with others in the afghan context. so it was the afghans with our help that were liberating themselves from a brutally, oppressive taliban regime. and we have tried since them to work with the afghan people to help them establish a political structure and a more viable economy. so that the afghan people can have a more prosperous and hopeful future. you can't do this kind of thing as an adversary of the afghan people. it needs to be working with the afghan people to empower them to establish a better life. that's what we are trying to do under the administration. host: when you hear of the afghan government to reach out to the taliban for a compromise or stability, what do you think? guest: i think you have to

stinguish between the hard-core leadership of the taliban that's been on reasserting power and probably can't be reconciled. and those people for perhaps economic reasons or other are banning with thealiban in local areas. and i think that commanders believe that the lower-level people can be brought out of the insurgency. that's the counter of the insurgency, to win the population and split the insurgency. to bring those who are willing to come out and accept government and giving them an opportunity to return into society. t in any insurgency there will be a hard-core of people that

are really not going to be reconcilable and you will have deal with them with force. host: turning to president karzai's meeting and administraon? guest: it's part of the notion to help the afghan people to establish a government that is democratic, serves their interest and brings them a better life. that has to be support in the afghan people and regrettably the corruption that has plagued the government is undermined by the support of the people. that's why we make something out about the corruption, that the afghan government need the support of their people and why it needs to be addressed.

host: west virginia john on the independent line. caller: first i need to make a statement before i ask the question. i was extremely disappointed in president obama joking about the immigrants coming over recently at his correspondent dinner, and i think that the main weakness of terrorisms is our own borders with mexico. and i don't think that we understand the severity, they may look like workers and that 2% are coming overor reasons besides working in the fields. and i wonder if your government could tell shouldn't we be trying to tend our own borders as our number one

priority? guest: we should, and oiously if you cannot defend your own borders you will have a problem keeping the terrorists t. one trick is to defend your borders to keep the terrorists out and allow normal people to come through with as minimal interruption and allows the goods to go back and forth. it's important for the economic health of united states and mexico. the trick is to defend your borders and to keep terrorists out and allow interaction of people and the flow of commerce across that border. mexico has a huge challenge in the provinces in the northern

part of the country on the border. it's a combination of terrorists and narco-traffickers and it's an extremely serious situation. mexico is a close ally and it affects mexico. in addition to dealing with our side of the border in the bush and obama administrations have been active in trying to help the mexico government dealing with the challenge presented by the terrorists and the narco-trafficicki narco-trafficicki ikin narco-trafficking. host: our republican line from maryland. guest: i don't think that (inaudible) knows what it's

doing when it comes to the foreign affairs. for instance we ask to get rid of (inaudible) and then we are less stable in pakistan in a diverse nation like afghanistan, we need a strong man to be that country, not democracy and for trouble and nations and i like to hear your comment. guest: well, we tried very much to get a reconciliation between mrs. butond president rashir. and tragically buto was killed by those elements in the northwes territories. and it was a great tragedy for the pakistani people. president rushar made some

serious political mistakes and it was clear that he had lt the confidence of the pakistani people. we supported him in the steps he took to transition from the military regime to a democratic structure. he courageously s elections. took off his uniform and lifted the state of emergency and resulted in an election of the current government, i think it was a tribute to president rashar and president bush's compromise and i think that it could be a problem to the nehboring india and could put extremists in control of the nuclear weapons in pakistan's

inventory. this was a very difficult time for the people of pakistan. and i think that president rushar acquitted himself well. and we are lucky that it was to a democratic government and not the chaos that could have occurred. host: the story of iraq's attacks and to the extreme groups across the country despite a wave of arrests and including two commanders of iraq. cod you give a sense of these occurrences still happening in iraq and what it says for their security? guest: it's a huge challenge for that country, and you notice

that of the article some attacks were in sunni areas but most in shiite areas. and most agree that for al-qaeda and iraq to do what they did in twoo 2005 to attack shiite and prevent the aos. i was reassured by iraqis that they won't respond to violence in this way. but it's an iication that iraq has not fully stabilized. it's an transition from election to unity government and that's what they need. and the formation of that government is taking a long

time. and it undermines confidence, gives a sense of instability and opens the doors for these kind of terrorists attacks as they try to destabilize them in this period. the solution is for one, the iraqis to settle this process and get a government that involves sunni's and kurds and the people can get the economy moving and do those other kinds of things that will bring a long-term peace and prosperity. ho: what is your sense of the iraqi trained fces as well? guest: i have not been in this, but out for a year, but the impression i have is it's a much

improved security force. remember the united states in a draw down of forces in 2007 and 2008 have gone from over 170,000 to now something like 100,000 and will go to 50,000 by the end of the august in this year. the fact we can do that despite the incidents is to the iraqi security forces and the way they maintained order. the election they had was fairly free of violence with the iraqi secuty forces. i think that's been a real success. as we found with terrorist incidents here at home, it's very difficult when people are coming to try to kill your people, and in case of iraq, have an objective to destabilize

the political system. it's very difficult to have zero incidents. it's a troubling development and more needs to be done. host: our guest served for president bush and serves as senior advisor in international affairs. kentucky you are next for stephen hadley. caller: good morning, it's very scary that mr. hadley is serving on an institute of peace since he instituted two wars and i have two questions. do you agree that we have had double the problems, double the terrorists because of your war in iraq? and i want to know my question second is, why did you allow mr. cheney to manipulate the

intelligence that took us into iraq. and do you repent of the damage you have done? thank you. guest: i would say three things, the caller used the phrase instituted two wars. of course one was afghanistan and we talked about earlier on the show, it was response to the attack on the country on september 11 and to reign in al-qaeda. and in terms of iraq, it was a war of last resort after iraq had defiled the community and supported terror and invaded neighbors and violated the cease-fire arrangements concluded at the end of the gulf war. obviously wars are terrible things and particularly terrible

in the countries of which they occur. but in both instances there was no alternative. i think it was not manipulation of iraq or whether there were stocks of mass destruction. there turned out to be no stocks of biological and chemical weapons but it wasn't the case of manipulating thentelligence but that it was wrong. it's the same intelligence that every service in the world that shared theudgment president clinton on that basis instituted air strikes in iraq in 1998 and it was 1998 that the congress based on the basis of that intelligence made changing the regime in iraq the u.s. policy. this was