Brian Bilbray: “We are not just talking about jobs. We are also talking about lives.”

Mr. Ranking Member, let me say this quite clearly as somebody who was a regulator more than I was a congressman, how many times have you heard we need a Manhattan Project for energy independence?

So in other words, you were fighting the last war; didn't look at the fact that there was a new technology coming on that was going to be available.

I think that the fact is people are starting to depend on this for more and more, and they want it consolidated.

I think history has proven that because Congress pushed it, made them look at new technology, it was aligned.