Pete Domenici: “I think my colleague knows it is with reluctance that I must stand and oppose his amendment. We wrote the bill he is…”

“I think my colleague knows it is with reluctance that I must stand and oppose his amendment. We wrote the bill he is talking about. The President chose to fund provisions in the Energy Policy Act amounting to $1.2 billion. He didn't fund everything. My colleague intends to add items that were not funded. We will have an opportunity in the appropriations process to move the money around and do some of what he seeks rather than some of those the President seeks. But the issue here is that to do what he wants, we have to add more than $3.5 billion. We add that to the bottom line which we have to pay for. The Senator pays for it by assuming that we will reauthorize the Superfund tax. That is how he pays for it. That has not been reauthorized for years. If it was, it shouldn't be used for this purpose. So essentially, we should not adopt this amendment because it breaks the budget. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator's time has expired.”