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REP. PETER WELCH (D), VERMONT: -- for willful safety violations, including the use of valves similar to those that contributed to the Texas City blast.

And finally, of course, we have the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, and the more evidence that comes in, the more it's clear that that event was foreseeable and it was avoidable.

After the explosion, BP said there was no oil leaking. Then it said there was 1,000 barrels a day leaking. Then it went to 5,000 barrels. We're now up to 60,000 barrels.

For 59 days, Mr. Hayward, BP has told the American people that this was an aberration, that it was a singular occurrence, and that it wouldn't happen again. Mr. Hayward, it's not an aberration.

For BP, regrettably, this is business as usual. It's deja vu again and again and again and again.

And the question I think many of us have is whether a CEO who has presided over a company that has incurred $370 million in criminal fines, whose company, according to independent assessors, has one of the worst records in the world for safety, and consistently puts money ahead of safety, whose peers, including Mr. Tillerson from ExxonMobil, who testified where you are two days ago, said that they never -- Exxon never would have drilled a well they way BP did at Deepwater Horizon, and who as CEO has presided over the destruction of nearly $100 billion in shareholder value and the suspension of an annual $10 billion dividend, does that leader continue to enjoy and have a valid claim on the trust and confidence of his employees, his shareholders, the public regulators, and, most importantly, the families and small businesses of the Gulf Coast? Or is it time, frankly, for that CEO to consider to submit his resignation?

I thank you and yield back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

Mr. Green, for an opening statement, please.

KING: More criticism there of the BP CEO form the Democratic congressman from Vermont suggesting perhaps that Mr. Hayward has worn out his trust not only with the American people, but with his own shareholders.

We'll continue to await the testimony of the BP CEO.

And as the members of the committee talk about the impact on businesses across the Gulf Coast, our Ed Lavandera is right in the heart of that right now in Kenner, Louisiana -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John.

Kenner, Louisiana, at a great little family diner here called Dot's Diner. And a lot of -- clearly, this is the type of place where Tony Hayward has a lot of work to do to win over the hearts of the people here on the Gulf Coast.

We have got Richard with the most Cajun last name you're going to meet this morning.

Give it to me one more time.

RICHARD CAZAUBON, RESIDENT: Cazaubon.

LAVANDERA: Cazaubon. All right.

So, Richard, we're about to hear from Tony Hayward. What do you want to hear from him?

CAZAUBON: Well, I want to hear him explain what happened here. You know, all this PR work they've been doing, I want to hear the real reasons why this happened.

LAVANDERA: Does he have a chance to still kind of win you over in any kind of way?

CAZAUBON: No. I think the damage has already been done by him. He has clearly no understanding of what's going on down here.

LAVANDERA: You said -- you were telling me you have a lot of friends that are in the shrimp wholesale business. In your words, they're dying right now?

CAZAUBON: Correct. They have no product to pick up and sell.

LAVANDERA: What do you think they want to hear? Is there anything that they could hear that would help them out?

CAZAUBON: Oh, I think they're glad to hear about this $20 billion. But like on one of your earlier reports, they want to know how it's going to be distributed. You know, what red tape they're going to have to go through to get some money. Right now, I think they're picking and choosing for PR reasons who they are giving money to, but there are a lot of people out there that are still suffering.

LAVANDERA: I'm sure you have been paying a lot of attention to the cleanup effort right now. How do you think that's going?

CAZAUBON: I think that's a joke. I think that in the first three, four days, when we were offered help from other countries, Obama refused because of the unions to release that Jones Act and allow these foreign companies in here to help us. And that's something President Bush did. He waived the Jones Act and got other people to come in here and help us.

And then when you hear about places of booms in Maine (ph), USA, that's still not be put down here in the shortage of booms and all --

LAVANDERA: You told me earlier you thought that this response has actually been worse than Katrina. Did you really mean that?

CAZAUBON: Oh, yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. The response here by the federal government has been absolutely zilch.

LAVANDERA: All right. I appreciate it, Richard.

So you really get a sense there.

Another one of his frustrations here this morning, John, is he's actually very anxious to hear Tony Hayward speak. So he's ready to stop listening to the congressmen make their opening statements and he's very anxious to start listening to Tony Hayward -- John.

KING: Ed Lavandera for us in Kenner, Louisiana. And a fascinating point there.

Let me continue the conversation with our national political correspondent, Jessica Yellin, who is with me.

I saw this a lot when I was in the Gulf, people saying, "Where is the federal government?" "The president was too slow to get the urgency of this."

Some is perception, some of it is reality. In politics, that doesn't quite matter.

YELLIN: It doesn't matter. And, you know, there is enormous frustration, I know, among some of the people working in the administration on response because they feel like they are really working hard, doing what they can. They've gotten tens of thousands of personnel down there, and this is a problem that is out of control.

One of the frustrations they feel is that, for some reason, some on the team think that the administration has not done a good job explaining the nature of this crisis and how their response is working. And it might not always be visible, but it is in place, and they're doing what they can. Obviously, to people who are suffering, it's not enough.

The difference with Katrina is it's a hurricane, it comes and then it's gone, and you can go in and fix what happened. This is an ongoing problem.

KING: And the uncertainty and the anxiety gnawing at people.

We're going to take a quick break. We are just moments away from what we're all waiting for today, the dramatic testimony of the BP CEO, Tony Hayward.

You see him in the top right of your screen. He has been listening and taking notes during the opening statements. But in just moments, he will testify before the Congress, say he's sorry, and try to explain what happened and what BP will do about it.

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