[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 66 (Wednesday, May 5, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H3131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RESILIENCE AND DETERMINATION

  (Mr. CAO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CAO. Mr. Speaker, for the past several weeks, the eyes of the 
world have been directed to the oil spill in the gulf coast. People 
have been watching, hoping, and wondering:
  How many lives will it claim? How many thousands of barrels of oil 
will it leak? How many years will it set back our efforts to rebuild 
our delicate coastal wetlands? How many livelihoods of fishermen and 
longshoremen will it destroy?
  The Federal Government's response this time, fortunately, has been 
swift. As I told Secretaries Napolitano and Salazar as we flew over the 
affected area this weekend, we are grateful for the care, concern, and 
compassion they are showing the gulf coast.
  Yet we in Congress must also perform our role by being vigilant and 
by focusing on providing immediate assistance with the containment--
with cleanup initiatives that will ensure the accountability of those 
at fault and with the acceleration of Louisiana's oil and gas revenue-
sharing, which, without legislative changes, will not allow Louisiana 
to receive money to rebuild our coastal wetlands until 2017.
  Louisiana has taken up the call to address the country's energy 
needs. It is time this country heeds the call of Louisiana for the 
money to restore our coast.

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