Pete Domenici: “I thank the Chair. First, might I say to my friend Senator Bingaman, it is not to my liking we are here opposing each…”

“I thank the Chair. First, might I say to my friend Senator Bingaman, it is not to my liking we are here opposing each other. We produced the Energy bill, which we are discussing or debating today, together. Today we have an argument about how to implement it, how fast to implement it. I am on the side of the President in terms of implementing it, and the Senator wants to implement it faster. That does not mean we are at odds with reference to what we tried to do. It is just how fast we will do it. I wish to suggest to the Senate that when you have a budget, you have to make choices. The President made some very significant choices in this area of how much of the Energy Policy Act should be implemented. In his State of the Union Address, he spoke rather eloquently about our addiction to oil. It is interesting, when he spoke about that, he then turned to issues and matters within the Energy Policy Act, which was passed by 74 Senators--bipartisan--when he said: Let us move ahead to substitute in the tanks of our automobiles--instead of gasoline, let us substitute ethanol and a related product that eventually will come from cellulose that will be produced, that grows. And we are about to the point where we know exactly how to convert that to something that can be used in the tanks of our cars. The President asked for that. That is a very large item. That is funded. Senator Bingaman has no argument with that. Obviously, he is for that.…”