Unanimous-Consent Request--S. 3462

Floor Speech

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Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam President, I rise once again to ask unanimous consent--and I will do so shortly--to hold oil companies accountable for their spills. This is really a sense of who is on your side.

Are we going to take the side of big oil or are we going to take
the side of commercial fishermen? Are we going to take the side of big oil or are we going to take the side of shrimp fishermen? Are we going to take the side of big oil or are we going to take the side of preserving the estuaries that are so critical yet that we see increasingly devastated, the wildlife, with consequences to those ecosystems that may very well affect a generation? Are we going to take a side with big oil or are we going to stand up for the tourism industry that is affected? Are we going to stand up for big oil or are we going to stand with the boater who ultimately sees his boat languishing in the waters because he cannot go out because there is no one to take out on a commercial venture? Are we going to stand up for the communities and the coasts along the gulf shore or are we going to stand with big oil?

That is what this effort is all about. It is about setting responsibility where responsibility should lie. I applaud that the President got BP to sign up to $20 billion over the next 4 years or so. But that does not mean we should not be lifting the liability cap, a liability cap that is ridiculously low at $75 million total when BP, for example, makes over $90 million a day. So their liability under the law, regardless of what they say, is less than 1 day's profit.

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator has used 2 minutes.

Mr. MENENDEZ. This is about making sure at the end of the day we stand up to big oil. I know there are those who suggest--my colleague from Louisiana has suggested he has a better way. The problem is his better way is constitutionally infirm. That has been reviewed by the Congressional Research Service which says that trying to enact legislation that effectively declares the guilt or imposes punishment on an identifiable individual or entity is in essence a bill of attainder under the Constitution; therefore, it cannot work. I have heard him say I don't want to come here and make a speech, I want to solve something. That is exactly the problem. That does not solve anything because it is constitutionally infirm, therefore it would not apply, therefore we would not have a success. Besides, if it is good enough for this incident, it is good enough for any other.

Understanding that, I want to ensure we stand on the side with all of those commercial interests, so I ask unanimous consent--I take a final 30 seconds--I ask unanimous consent that the Environment and Public Works Committee be discharged of S. 3472, the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Unlimited Liability Act of 2010, and that the Senate proceed to its consideration; that the bill be read three times, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, without intervening action or debate.

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