[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9494]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       OIL SPILL SITUATION STINKS

  (Mr. GOHMERT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, as we've had hearings regarding the oil 
spill out in the gulf, there have been some staggering things come 
forward, and the media is not grabbing it like they should and letting 
everyone know.
  Who knew that the inspectors inspecting the offshore rigs were 
unionized? So they had union limits on how many hours and travel and 
this kind of thing. These guys are like the military. They're out there 
to protect the environment, and we're going to put limits on them? 
They've got to be out there protecting us.
  And then yesterday, Director Birnbaum, when asked what kind of checks 
and balances did you have, she said, We sent them out in pairs of two. 
And then I asked, Well, then was it a good idea that the last 
inspection team of two was a unionized father-and-son team that went 
out there to carefully watch each other to make sure each other did the 
right thing? This is outrageous.
  And then we had the investigation going on as to what gifts may have 
been given to the people doing the inspections.
  This thing stinks, and it needs to be cleaned up.

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