[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 91 (Thursday, June 17, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5066-S5069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             NATIONAL GUARD

  Mr. SESSIONS. Our Governor has called up 300 National Guardsmen, and 
I think it needs to be done under title 32, which is Federal status 
under State control.
  The President on Tuesday evening said:

       I have authorized the deployment of over 17,000 National 
     Guard members along the coast. These service men and women 
     are ready to help stop the oil from coming ashore, clean 
     beaches, train response workers, or even help with processing 
     claims, and I urge the governors in the affected states to 
     activate these troops as soon as possible.

  Well, the Federal status under State control is the procedure by 
which the Guard people operate under State control, which eliminates 
some of the prohibitions on military people being used, Federal 
military people being used for nonmilitary matters, and it allows 
payment by the Federal Government.
  I guess I would just say that this is not worked out yet. As a matter 
of fact, Governor Riley has personally been engaged in this, and I have 
been so proud of his leadership. He has called these guardsmen for some 
time and has been requesting that they be approved under title 32.
  The Admiral told me today that there are still bureaucratic 
problems--the Department of Defense says this and some law says this. I 
would just say that the Commander in Chief, the President of the United 
States, said: Call them up and let's get busy about it. And I hope 
somehow this can be taken care of promptly, as it is impacting the 
budget of the State of Alabama in a significant way.
  Madam President, I thank the Chair. And I thank Senator LeMieux for 
driving home the problem that, to me, is most inexplicable; that is, 
our failure to maximize our ability to have skimmers available to 
protect our beaches.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. LeMIEUX. Madam President, I just wanted to speak for another 
moment, if I may, and compliment my colleague from Alabama, who has 
been very vigorous on this issue. I appreciate his voice to make sure 
we find out what is going on with these resources, especially as he 
spoke about the National Guard, which is an important topic.
  To follow up on my comments before, I have two documents that I ask 
unanimous consent to have printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

[[Page S5067]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TS17JN10.001



[[Page S5068]]

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TS17JN10.002



[[Page S5069]]

  Mr. LeMIEUX. Madam President, these are two documents from yesterday. 
I spoke a moment ago of 20 skimmers. That is a Thursday document; this 
is the Wednesday document.
  This is the Snapshot Report No. 22, Deepwater Horizon Response, 
Wednesday, June 16, from the State of Florida's Governor Crist to Dave 
Halstead, State coordinating officer. This says, as of yesterday, 32 
skimmers off the coast of Florida. The report we have from today has 
20, so that is a drop of 12.
  This is the National Incident Command Daily Situation Update, Shore 
Operations--Florida panhandle, Department of Homeland Security 
document.
  It says there are 110 skimmers. We just found out that is for the 
entire gulf coast. What is being reported to us is that there are 110 
skimmers for the entire gulf coast. Thirteen of those skimmers are off 
of Florida. We are told that those 13 are encapsulated within this 
number of 32. As of yesterday, 32; as of today, 20. Only 110 skimmers 
are off the entire gulf coast to fight this problem.
  We are calling upon this administration to get its act together. We 
commend them for this fund yesterday. That is good work. We give credit 
where credit is due. But we have to stop this oil from coming to shore. 
These skimmers can do the job.
  If there are 2,000 skimmers in this country, why aren't they headed 
to the gulf? If there are thousands of them around the world, why 
aren't they headed to the gulf? This question must be answered as 
quickly as possible.
  My colleague from Alabama and I and others will continue to come to 
the Senate floor and urge this administration to get on top of this 
problem and get these skimmers where they need to be.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Before the Senator leaves, I will ask a question to my 
colleague, because he has come to this lately. He might share with us--
the Senator has had personal conversations with Admiral Allen, the 
point person, about this for some time, has he not? We still have 
difficulty getting firm numbers, as the Senator pointed out, about how 
many might be available and what prospects we have for the arrival of 
more skimmers, is that correct?
  Mr. LeMIEUX. That is correct. We have been talking to the Coast Guard 
for weeks about trying to muster every skimmer available to the gulf 
for not just Florida but for Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. I met 
with the President, Admiral Allen, Governor Crist, Congressman Jeff 
Miller, and other State officials in Pensacola. We met for an hour. I 
asked about the skimmers and about the report from the State 
Department, and I asked: Did we decline foreign assistance? I asked 
about the skimmers. He said that, of course, Admiral Allen wants to get 
as many skimmers as possible, and he is working on it. That sounds 
good, but we need results. It is not just about effort; we need 
results. These reports are showing that we are not getting the results.
  Mr. SESSIONS. Does the Senator understand that Admiral Allen has the 
power--or the President does--to enter into Jones Act waivers that need 
to be entered into, and that presumably could be done in a matter of 
minutes or hours? What is holding this up? Has the Senator been able to 
ascertain that?
  Mr. LeMIEUX. I don't know what is holding it up. The Jones Act is not 
a barrier. That can be waived. The Jones Act was waived, as I 
understand it, after Katrina. There is power under the U.S. Code--I 
believe it is 46 U.S. Code, section 500, but I will check that--that 
gives the ability of agency heads of the Federal Government to waive 
the Jones Act.
  The President and Admiral Allen tell us there are ships that have 
come from foreign countries. I hope that is true. I assume it is if 
they told us that. Why is the State Department on the one hand 
reporting that they are declining offers of assistance from 17 
countries, and then we hear some ships are being used?
  It comes back to the point my colleague, Senator Nelson from Florida, 
made about having a command and control unit. I am believing that 
Admiral Allen is running this operation, and I like him and commend him 
for his service. But we obviously need to have a better top-down 
control situation here so that we get some results.
  Every person in America has to be scratching their head as to why 
these skimmers aren't there. Why aren't there hundreds of them off the 
coasts of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi? We just 
celebrated the anniversary of Dunkirk a couple days ago, where the 
British civilians took their boats out and rescued the British soldiers 
who were retreating, and saved the day. Why aren't there boats there to 
save the day for the gulf coast?
  Mr. SESSIONS. Well, has the Senator ascertained that anybody in our 
government is scouring the world and the United States to try to move 
every single skimmer that could possibly be brought to the gulf coast? 
If not, we are awfully late, wouldn't the Senator think? Shouldn't that 
have been done weeks ago?
  Mr. LeMIEUX. That is a great point. There doesn't seem to be a sense 
of urgency. Job 1 is stopping the oil from leaking, and job 2 is 
stopping the oil from coming ashore. They are doing some good work. The 
President tells us that by the end of the month 90 percent will be 
contained. Let's hope that happens. Let's stop the oil from getting on 
our beaches, in our estuaries, our coastal waterways. The best way to 
do that with booming is skimming. As the Senator mentioned, skimming is 
working and the oil is able to be skimmed. Why are we waiting to ask 
Governors? As Admiral Allen told the Senator and me a moment ago, they 
are going to put in a request to Governors to free up skimmers. There 
are skimmers around the country that have to be on duty because there 
could be a spill someplace else. They have to request waivers. One, why 
are we waiting until now? Two, that is like saying your house is 
burning down, but the fire truck is covering another area in case a 
fire breaks out. Well, the fire is happening now. The skimmers need to 
go to the gulf now. Why there isn't that sense of urgency and followup, 
I cannot explain.
  Mr. SESSIONS. I thank the Senator. I yield the floor.
  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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