John Ensign: “the amendment I was attempting to offer is a bipartisan amendment on renewable energy at a time when our country is…”

“the amendment I was attempting to offer is a bipartisan amendment on renewable energy at a time when our country is looking for cleaner sources of energy. We are also looking for more domestic sources of energy and at ways to help our economy. This housing bill is not just a housing bill, it is a bill to help our economy. It is a bill to keep us from going further into recession. The amendment I introduce is a bill Senator Cantwell and I have worked on for the last several weeks because there has been an impasse on renewable energy legislation. The offsets that were included in the original bill were unacceptable. And because there are going to be very few vehicles that are moving this year, we are trying to get this amendment on this bill to try to get renewable tax credits included so it can be signed into law this year. The problem is, if you wait too long on these renewable tax credits, these businesses will shut down because they require time in advance for planning and business development. So it is critical we get this done. I know the chairman of the Finance Committee is working on a bill, he is working on some offsets, but the problem I see with what he is doing is it may not pass later on in the year, and it also may be too late. So this bill may be the best vehicle we have to ensure America becomes less dependent on foreign sources of oil and other energy sources.”