Political Quotes

“Madam President, I have come to speak about the two nominees on the executive calendar who are before us this afternoon. Norman Bay and Cheryl LaFleur are nominated to be commissioners on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, an increasingly critical, independent regulatory commission. As the Senate has considered these nominations, there has been kind of a weird drama that has played out throughout the entire community that follows the FERC and, as I understand, the agency itself has been really very distracted by it. Many are concerned the wrong person is set to take over as chair of the FERC and that the Commission is at risk of losing its reputation for objectivity. So for the benefit of Senators who are not on the energy committee and for members of the public who have not followed the controversy surrounding these nominees, let me provide a little bit of perspective this afternoon. Both nominees have been serving at the FERC. Ms. LaFleur currently leads the agency as its chair. She has done so with distinction for the better part of a pretty difficult year. This is a year that has brought about the polar vortex and challenges to bulk power system reliability. The other individual, Mr. Bay, is an employee. He is the director of the agency's Office of Enforcement. He was appointed to that post by its somewhat controversial former chair, John Wellinghoff of Nevada. If confirmed, Mr.…”