I rise to discuss the legislation before this body, the National Defense Authorization Act. Before doing so, I want to take a minute and address the DRIVE Act. I strongly support the DRIVE Act. It is very important that we have a 6-year…

again, I thank the Senator from California. This is important bipartisan legislation, and we need to continue to work to get it done. I rise today to discuss the NDAA--the National Defense Authorization Act. It is likewise incredibly…

I rise to speak on the issue of the fiscal year 2016 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill--the bill that, in fact, is now before the Senate. We just voted at 2 o'clock this afternoon on the NDAA, the National Defense…

We are an endangered species.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

You cannot protect a whole State when you have a huge amount of land and a huge opportunity for people who are peddling poison to basically go undetected.

Wouldn't you favor certainty in terms of trying to get investors in companies to make the decisions to invest in energy infrastructure?

So why wouldn't we want to do that and in fact make ourselves less dependent on the SPR by having a more robust industry?

But it did show an impact.

isn't it very important that we allow, that we lift the oil export ban in order to reduce our dependence on the SPR

Would you invest millions of dollars in order to build either a traditional or a renewable project if you might have to wait seven years to get a decision...

The point being if we are allowed to compete in the global economy we will have a more robust oil and gas industry in this country than we will have if we are not allowed to compete.

Would you acknowledge that?

So my question to you is if somebody is going to follow all the laws, follow all the regulations and invest millions of dollars and still wait seven years for a siting decision...

It's very telling when you have a Democrat Senator who is generally supportive of the EPA's efforts calling the final rule a 'slap in the face.'

How are you handling that in terms of your workforce? You need a lot more people certain times during the day than you do other times.

This month marks the 14th Anniversary since the attacks on September 11th.

I think some 30 percent of that workforce will time out--for mandatory retirement age--within the next 5 years.