Dale Bumpers: “I think I would be remiss if I did not spend a minute to laud my distinguished colleague from Utah, Senator Bennett. He…”

“I think I would be remiss if I did not spend a minute to laud my distinguished colleague from Utah, Senator Bennett. He came here last year and, I think in perhaps the shortest period of time I have ever seen, has established his credibility with virtually every Member of this body. I know this is an accolade that he would not care to hear and would just as soon I omit in my opening statement, but the truth of the matter is, after 16 long years that I have labored on this legislation, we would not be where we are today without Senator Bennett. I would not presume to say anything in addition to what he has already said, but he has obviously been successful in business. He is a man of unquestioned integrity, and that goes to intellectual integrity as well as all other kinds that you can conjure up. But when we were debating this bill in the Energy Committee, without repeating it, he made one of the most eloquent statements I ever heard in the 19 years I have been in the Senate. We come from opposite sides of the aisle, but I can tell you, when people like Senator Bennett and I can sit down and reason together, as we did on a number of occasions, trying to hammer out a bill that he thought was reasonable and that I thought was reasonable, when we do that, the people's interests are best served.”