we are in venice, louisiana. >> this is your restaurant? >> yes, it is. me and my wife. >> my name is marlette cooper. >> we just watched the address. can you give me your reaction? >> he did not say no more than he did have time. he is saying me is in charge and he will do this and that. what happened today was very frustrating. it hurts to see the idea of trying to do something and save our coastline and you do not have enough of everything. some of it was soaked up, but we do not near have the equipment. >> the executive director of the louisiana promotion board. our underlying concern right now president has put on the deep water, offshore drilling. if you look at the fishing communities here, these communities service all 30 of the rigs offshore. phipps we have -- we have 30 generations of camp -- the fishermen here. brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles. and if one industry goes down, the other goes down. i am not sure the president understands the impact that the moratorium have on the fishing communities. it will devastate our fishing communities, d

. >> we talk to some fisherman in venice yesterday who are worried that the way of life is going to come to an end. what do you say to people? >> i say that we are fighting for their way of life, and i say to them that they will fi

it's a two-hour boat ride back to venice. when you work 20 minutes and rest 10, not much work is sometimes it feels like the contractor has more influence that bp has hired than bp nd others. i have been in venice when the guy with the red at stands up and says we are not going to do that. any equipment that would come through the parish, state or federal government, he is not getting a percentage of it. right now they are building a camp in plaquemines parish for 1,500 people. i tell you, there is nothing in plaquemines parish for 1,500 people to do. we appreciate it. clean up one of the islands, trampled nesting grounds of the pelicans. they were out there throwing eggs around like it was a joke until our fishermen stopped them. we have people in charge that -pdon't know what they are doin we have laid out a plan for the jack-up boats so we could be closer to the front line out there to catch the oil, and we did. three weeks -- that oil still sits in the marsh, and more and more every day pelicans dive into the stuff, not k

reporter: so earlier this week, she and about 50 other fishing families went to a middle school near venice to talk to three doctors from the children's health fund in new york city who were there to listen to their concerns. >> there's literally a haze as far as you can see all the way to the ground. when you come out, the smell of petroleum hits you in the face. >> reporter: dr. redletter is president of the group and also heads colombia university's national center for disaster preparedness. he said a lack of information only exaggerates people's worrieds about their health. >> there are people that live in lowery plaque min parish who have dimpt accessing health services. there are people who are not insured, not well insured, yet there are costs to getting health care, which a lot of people can't afford. there's an ongoing series of challenges. >> reporter: people here have been frightened by stories they've heard in the media about the possibilities of dealing with cancer and other illnesses in the years to come. >> our lives are down here. our kids are down here. my biggest fear is 1

, louisiana. -- you see pelicans being cleaned in venice, louisiana.[no audio] [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] >> the u.s. senate has gavelled in for the day. they are working on rebutting tax bres and social programs like jobless benefits. live coverage on c-span 2. the house meets at 2:00 p.m. eastern and will debate five bills dealing with hydroelectric power and federal lands. later this week, raising insurance premiums fha- guaranteed mortgages. live coverage here on c-span. >> president barack obama turns his attention today to the health-care bill. he is going to racing center in wheaton, maryland to answer questions about the new law. the town hall coincides with the release later this week of the first batch of $250 checks to seniors who fall into the medicare prescription drug data known as the doughnut hole. we will have live coverage starting at 11:40 here on c- span. to is the busiest day of the year so far for congressional and gubernatorial elections with 12 states holding primaries or run off to bed. in california, the democratic senat

, louisiana. >> i am a lifelong resident of venice, louisiana. i have been here my entire life. katrina could not keep me awake. i was back to months later, so i am bound and determined to stay. since i was 6 years old, it has been my dream to open this business. katrina destroyed everything, and it took until february 2009 to rebuild and get back open. >> is that right here? >> that was right next door. my place had been open nine weeks. i was in business for nine weeks. >> i notice you have a bunch of signs up on the side of your restaurant. can you explain those? >> many mornings of frustration. you go to bed at night and watch on the news, and you wake up and see the same exact thing on the news. no progress whatsoever. they try to say things to make you feel better, but is not working. . . >> everyone within a matter of hours of the oil spill were totally devastated. this was not a hurricane rolling in. this was something we do not know how to pprepare for. we do not know how to recover from this. as far as how close it is to us, we woke up

>> they walked up to venice and they said, we do not need you. go back home. there were from australia. the guy came to see me. we ask them to add another bird place because then you do not have to transport the birds another 40 minutes. i believe they're trying to keep the amount of their work spread out. we might bring in a hundred birds. if they clean them all up with volunteers, which they should be as quickly as possible, and they are out of work for three days or four days. or they do not want to work for long hours. that they leave the pens for pelican's up to a week is unacceptable. you can see the pelican's -- >> they are covered in it for days? >> they say four days or five days to let them, down. that bird cannot move because it is covered in oil. >> but that is a bp decision. that is not a wildlife expert. the what is the name of that young man who has been on andersons show? he has teams of people waiting. >> is being taken away from the contractor. >> the state wildlife [unintelligible] they were performing better than most of the state could why

we want to save ourwn communit now, the task force behind the from venice, louisiana. there is a place where locals in the areas. le, the bp representativeof the road the h us, just picture you grandn son or your playing ping pong, and there are about 500 balls coming at you at once. that is what it looks like from the bay. there are 500 ping pong balls of coming, and only one shrimper out there. >> it sounds t me, based on what everything i am hearing, folks note the area the best. you know the lution inhe best. more of that command and control happen perhaps even like what we did senator landrieu during the war. we had a local troops helping local commanders on the ground. perhaps we neee to set up something li that so that you go have theve to president come down to get some things done. it sounds like you have a lot of solutions that could prevent a lot of this stuff from happening. >> i will follow up on that because tt is wheri o jump off. i do not think weeed any more testimony about the contract in process being absolutely broken. w this. seen it before. weaw i

c-span spoke to the owner of a sandwich shop in venice, louisiana. >> owner and operator of ma's sandwich snack shop. i was born here and been here my entire life. katrina couldn't keep me away, was back two months later, so i'm bound and determined to stay. i was 6 years old, this has been my dream to open this business, and i was nine weeks into it prior to katrina, lost and destroyed everything, and it took us till february of 2009 to resexbled get back open. >> is that right here? >> that was right next door. i'll show you what was right here. it was open anyone weeks. >> i notice that you have a bunch of scenes up on the side of your restaurant. can you explain those? >> a morning of frustration amongst many mornings of frustration. when you wake up in the morning, you're seeing the same exact thing on the news. no progress whatsoever. they try to say things that make unfortunately better, but it's not working. we're seeing, we're living what's going on out there, and we just want to see some progress. i mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how to stop that well. we

they got to venice. they were told to go back home. from australia. a guy came to see me here is what we're doing, because we ask them to add another bird place where it is shorter to transport the birds. what happened, what i believe is they are trying to keep their amount of work spread out. like, we might bring in 100 birds, and if they clean them all up as quickly as possible, three or four days.f work for they keep three or four pence of pelicans for up to a week sometimes. that is inexcusable. you can see the pelicans. >> they are covered for days. >> they say they are letting them calmed down. that bird has not moved because it is stuck in a while. >> who made that role? >> the contractor. >> but that is a bp decision. that is not the expert. i can remember the person's name, but he said he has teams of people. >> we need to take them responsibility away from the contractor and give it to the federal wildlife overseer. >> they were performing better than most of the state. it was mitch that mobilized them. >> it seems like everything we are dea

and continuing to prosecute the army of sirhan lead to the clause by vero from venice -- from the pen -- the classified video from baghdad. guest: he makes a lot of interesting points. one of which is said it is worth remembering. obama did say a lot of things in 2008. he did make a lot of these positions clear. he said he was going to continue the war in afghanistan. and some liberals did not believe that, that is on them, not on him. i would say in reading and talking, that is the one area that there is the most of his appointment. but there is a sense that he would give it away from those -- he would have put away from those bush policies. host: you write that democrats in congress share the blame. how does he overcome that? guest: it is a tough thing. the democratic party on the hill is somewhat more ideologically heterogeneous than the republican party. there are a very small number of moderates in the congressional republican party. among the democratic caucus, i think there are 20 something that you could call straight down the line of liberals. and 20 something that you could

and everyone was crying down in venice, louisiana. most of the boats or leading out of venice. that was the closest land. , and it was back at first, but it is kind of college -- it was the closest land point, but it isscoming down now. it is not like during the hurricane evacuation, when everybody, you know, it had been planned, anddthe evacuation and things went smoothly, although it up to mississippi. everybody was coordinated together. but there were no plans. this was a surprise. we were ambushed. local governments getting together. >> thank you. >> the chair recognizes the doctor for five minutes.. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. solangi, you said that the dolphins could be the canary in the mine. the ingestion of oil or toxins in the food chain, what do we know about the impact on dolphins who have suggested oil and toxiis aa least over other sea life that has ingested oil and toxins? >> we have beee studying dolphins for the last 30 or 40 years. any animal that dies, we do a necropsies and pathologistses, d we have been able to develop some sort of background profile, a

it is common ground that our work in the venice and need to bring together security, development, -- in afghanistann needs to bring together security and development. can you update us on your conversations with president karzai? i assure you that the government will have our support to take the strategy to see it the afghans are strong enough to take responsibility for their own security and prosperity. that he announced for buildingd- of the afghan army police and civil service. can he reassure the house that this will not be at the expense of vital, existing development programs elsewhere in the world? any oo the the house on discussions he has had with u.s. defense secretaay gates -- can he update the house on discussions he has had with u.s. mr. speaker, a stable afghanistan requires a stable pakistan. will the prime minister update the house on discussions he has had with the president and prime minister of pakistan? on the question of the families of our troops -- can i ask him if he will follow through the important work of the force defense secretary -- former defense secret

venice is right here. we knew we had to stop the oil out here. we had asked for jack-up boats that get out of the way of wave action. we kept being told we did not need that on the shore. when the president came down he did not hear about our plan. he said to put those in place. we have a jack-up boat placed here and another on this side. they never did improve -- did approve any more. but these boats would ride the course every morning looking for oil. unfortunately, the first oil to come to shore came in a storm. the next morning at 6:00 it was there. it was over in this area. three weeks later, it still had not been cleaned up. it killed everything in that march. >> what took so long for people to mobilize? >> they did not have the money. >> why did not people mobilized? whose call was that? as i was saying, everyone was worried about was coming out of the ground. we were worried about what was hitting the ground. isn't that as important as what was coming up as going out? >> offshore, we've seen some tendencies, but most of those can swim awa

. >> i am a lifelong resident of venice, louisiana. i have been here my entire life i am bound and determined to stay. i was nine weeks until -- destroyed everything. >> was that right here? >> that was right next door. >> can you explain the science on your restaurant? >> you wake up, you go to sleep at night and you see the news. there is no progress whatsoever. they try to say things to make you feel better. it is not working. we just want to see some progress. it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out this is not working well. there are things that can work. things that are common sense. we have obama and the rest in black and we have bp surrounded by the oil signs. . . it is right here in our front yard. basically. where we live, there is a levey following the mississippi river and the back bay. you can almost see that call from 100 yards behind my house. it will not be long that it will be up in those waters. all we need is a hurricane come through here right now one blow the oil into every one of these areas. there may n

there is weather out there, small boats can operate safely we pushed a lot of resources down to of venice. we will always have to deal with weather. that is a huge factor in our ability to do burning or mechanical skinny. there are days, cannot do anything out there because the weather will not allow it. as we move into hurricane season, until the relief wells is done and the well is capped, we will still be at some risk of exposure to weather even if it is not a hurricane. heavier weather could force us to stop doing certain operations. we're working with british petroleum melanie series of alternatives that might make the operation more survivable in heavier whether including bringing in larger platforms for the production of the oil brought in from containment advises -- containment devices. we need to face the possibility that a certain storm condition would make us stop the containment recovery operation and get the resources off their for safety purposes. we would have oil being discharged in that case. they are looking assistance where we could deploy disbursements to mitigate that

copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> we recently visited the bird rehabilitation center in venice, louisiana, where birds caught in the oil spill are being treated and cleaned. >> right now we have about 151 birds. there are a few coming in right now. yesterday we received 44 brown pelicans and a couple of other birds. that was yesterday's intake. today, more are coming in. i will let you take pictures of them. when you see the ones outside, that is when they are clean. when we pull a few others off and put them in tin foil, that is for evidence. this is where they come to take a picture of the bird, take a photograph that gets kept by the fish and wildlife service and used as evidence. later on, when they were cut the cost to the environment to charge bp, they use this as history and sampling. these birds are taking a really long time to clean, about one hour per bird, because this oil is really goofy -- gooey. we are using dawn dishwashing detergent and a light canola oil. it is an intensive process for these birds. we always tell people that we washed these birds with the perce

you can see, this is where the blowout occurred, 52 miles off the coast from the venice, louisiana. and all of the blow around there is the oil slick right now, it is where the oil is spreading. this is updated every couple of hours. john, democrat, eureka springs, arkansas. should we keep drilling in the gulf? caller: absolutely not. i want to make a couple of points, if i can. in 2005 i had a liver transplant and i am medically retired and i have been watching tv a lot. the advertisements going on 24/7 for the last five years, commercials on energy to the point where the american public has been dumbed down that now day except the terms such as clean coal. a good book for the public to familiarize themselves "the internal combustion engine" by urban blacks -- irvin black. we could have a hundred years ago gone to electric cars. there is not enough oil left to satisfy our demand, so we are chasing our tail and spending enormous amounts of money and it is coming out of the taxpayer's pocket. host: harrisburg, pennsylvania, independent line. caller: thank you for c-span. it definitel

right before katrina between venice and empire, that was the number one fish port in north america including alaska. the reason i talked about this, this fish is used for chicken mail and feeds catfish. this is one of the reasons why american chicken is so cheap. literally, the fisherman can put their nest down and catch millions of tons of these fish. they go straight up to northwestern arkansas and southwestern missouri which is the epicenter of the poultry industry and that is low cost to us.. this can affect all of us as far as eating chicken. at this population crashes like the herring after the exxon valdez, chicken will skyrocket. >> on the way out, what would you say to the people around the country that are watching about why it is so important to build the science is there to treat the soil. you can treated with microbes so it will be safe. more importantly, we have a plant that will be resilient that can hold those islands in place and rebuild louisiana's wetlands. >> everybody needs to realize this is not a state problem. this is a national problem. this is by far the largest dis

. >> i spoke to some fishermen in venice yesterday who are worried that their way of life will come to an end. what do you say to people? >> we are fighting for their way of life. i say to them that they will fish again. that is my promise to them, and i will do that until the day i finished this oil spill and every last drop of oil is off the beach so we can get them back to fishing again. we will get them back to fishing again. that is my promise. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> there is something i wanted to share with you that i still keep with me. hold that thought. this is a piece of paper from the comfort inn. when i came here for katrina, i was one of the lucky ones that got a motel room. as i was checking in at night, i was checking in and a man came in to the hotel with his wife and his wife was holding his hand, and he was carrying into the motel -- carried into the hotel. he was barely able to stand because he was working so hard. i said, sir, you can have my room. he gave me the snow. is note. thank you. if i can ever be of help, please call. this is a reminder of

venice, louisiana. can i get some? -- >> can i get some?r whatever it is. >> my name is -- and i work at a processing plant here in louisiana, and we have been greatly affected by the oil spill, with our our is being reduced. ordinarily right now, we would be working 100 hours per week -- with our hours being reduced. it is really hard right now to do with what we are making do with when you are used to having the income coming in. however, b.p. has been doing well, and we greatly appreciate that. it is not just the fishermen. if they do not catch, we do not work. we do appreciate the help that we are getting. >> what were you doing here today? >> i was asking for information, and she was really nice and answered my questions. you do not know what is going on, and you hear so much. >> did you actually filed a claim? >> no. -- did you actually file a claim? >> no. i already did. >> how much did you receive? >> $2,000 to cover my household living expenses, but i am not getting any salary, which, normally, i would be. it is not covering everyt

now, the task force behind the island is from venice, louisiana. there is a place where locals can work in the areas. the bottom line, the bp representatives of the road the boat with us, just picture you or your son or your grandson playing ping pong, and there are about 500 balls coming at you at once. that is what it looks like from the bay. there are 500 ping pong balls of oil coming, and only one shrimper out there. >> it sounds to me, based on what everything i am hearing, that the local folks note the area the best. you know the solution in the best. more of that command and control needs to happen, perhaps even like what we did senator landrieu during the war. we had a local troops helping local commanders on the ground. perhaps we neee to set up something like that so that you guys do not have to go have the president come down to get some of these things done. it sounds like you have a lot of solutions that could prevent a lot of this stuff from happening. >> i will follow up on that point, because that is where i wanttd to jump off. i do

from here, we have basis, the most prominent would be the one in venice, the against staging area for operations going on -- the advance staging area for the operations going on. i would like to provide a quick operational obeyed and hit a couple of items -- quick operational update and hit a couple of items, and then and jane will give you a brief and technical operation issues associated with miller's role in this. first, let me go right to the containment operations going on right now. over the night, we were able to successfully do not sure cut of the pike, 5000 feet of pipe that used to connect the heads of the mobile drilling unit. we are in the process of trying to do the second cut. the saw blade has been stuck in the pipe and they are working to set it free anyone who is used -- who has used a saw -- that is what they are trying to do there. the goal is later on today to finish the cotton and be able to put a containment device on the top of the well had -- finish the cut and be able to put a containment device on top of the well head. we are doing that and will continue to p

right before katrina between venice and empire, that was the number one fish port in north america including alaska. the reason i talked about this, this fish is used for chicken mail and feeds catfish. this is one of the reasons why american chicken is so cheap. literally, the fisherman can put their nest down and catch millions of tons of these fish. they go straight up to northwestern arkansas and southwestern missouri which is the epicenter of the poultry industry and that is low costo us.. this can affect all of us as far as eating chicken. at this population crashes like the herring after the exxon valdez, chicken will skyrocket. >> on the way out, what would you say to the people around the country that are watching about why it is so important to build the science is there to treat the soil. you can treated with microbes so it will be safe. more importantly, resilient that can hold those islands in place and rebuild louisiana's wetlands. >> everybody needs to realize this is not a state problem. this is a national problem. this is by far the largest disaster that you are going to see

this was at the fort jackson bird rehabilitation center in venice, louisiana. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> it's the busiest day of the year so far for congressional and governor elections. with 12 states holding primaries or runoffs today. here in arkansas, democrat senator blanche lincoln is in a runoff against the lieutenant governor. voters are choosing democratic and republican nominees like iowa. we'll have live primary coverage of election results when they come in tonight on the c-span networks. new british prime minister takes questions from the house of commons tomorrow morning. we'll have live coverage. prime minister's question time starts at 7:00 a.m. eastern live on c-span2. >> no candidate in this race, democrat or republican, has given voters of new hampshire or the voters of america an opportunit

a look now at helicopters loading sandbags in venice, louisiana. the bags will be used to block passes between the barrier islands in an effort to present this bill from reaching the coast. the man who is overseeing the government's response says the cap on the damaged oilwell is not keeping up to 462,000 gallons of oil per day from leaking into the gulf. thad allen said the spill response involves thousands of individuals. . . " tonight on c-span 2. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us for the first time is donna hopkins, the head of the bureau of political military affairs. specifically focusing on maritime security. not many people get up in the morning and go to work saying that my job today is the fight pirates but that is a large part of what you do. guest: it is. not myself, there are lots of people who are consumed with contemporary piracy. by and large we try to deal with crosscutting, pressing issues without any other bureaucratic home. piracy counterinsurgency issues. ples without residence in the state department in terms

the area at the venice which we go to -- they have also been told. guest: >> how did -- >> who tells you to stop? >> they come out on the news and the internet and show you the area. >> have you gotten any help from bp? >> i got one check already. i should be getting one more in the mail. bamut is that helping a lot? -- >> is that helping a lot? >> a little bit, not a whole bunch. the way we was working with the shrimping, we was doing way better than waiting on $5,000 a month. we normally would make that in a day or a couple of days, you know. it is way down right now. >> what would you expect the federal government to do to help? >> i would expect them to pick up where bp is not -- i mean, they can do better than what they have been. i expect the federal government to pick it p. >> his way of life -- that he has now -- ever since he was little and grew up -- it is gone. what is he going to do next? he cannot take -- you know, he cannot continue to do this. he has to have income at some point. r.o.c. want to provide? -- how is he going to provide? y