Unanimous-Consent Request--S. 3462

Floor Speech

Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I rise today to ask that my legislation, S. 3462, which would grant subpoena power to the Presidential commission tasked with investigating the BP oilspill, be passed by unanimous consent.

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?

Mr. INHOFE. Reserving the right to object, Madam President, I think I will object at this time. The bill was just introduced 7 business days ago. It has been referred to the Judiciary Committee, where I assume Chairman Leahy will take a thoughtful look at it. Senator Reid has asked his committee chairmen to report out oilspill legislation by the 4th of July for consideration next month, so I think we should give that process an opportunity to work. So I do object.

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.

The Senator from New Hampshire.

Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I don't understand. We are 58 days into this oilspill. Eleven lives have been lost. We have seen up to 97 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico that is already on the shores of the gulf. We have thousands of wildlife covered in oil, many of them dead. We have fishermen who have lost their livelihoods, some, we guess, maybe for generations. We have countless hotels and restaurants that are empty during what should be their prime tourist season. I don't understand why, given all of this--the full devastation of this catastrophic spill is far from being known, although we know it is going to be one of the worst economic and environmental disasters in American history, and we need to make absolutely certain this never happens again--why people are still objecting to giving the bipartisan commission charged with investigating this disaster the subpoena power to do what they need to do to make sure this never happens again.

In order to have a full and fruitful investigation, this commission must have subpoena power to get to the bottom of what safety precautions BP did and did not take leading up to the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Subpoena power is essential to their task of making meaningful recommendations on how to prevent future disasters. That is why I, along with 18 other Senators, have introduced this legislation to grant subpoena power to this commission. It is unacceptable for BP and the other companies responsible for this oilspill to continue to stonewall the American people.

I don't understand why my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are objecting to this. I would assume they are as interested in getting to the bottom of this disaster as the rest of us are, and this stonewalling is something I just don't understand.

I yield the floor.

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