Karen Bass: “in the 11 years that I have been in Congress I have been in Washington at 5:20 in the afternoon on Friday exactly twice.…”

“in the 11 years that I have been in Congress I have been in Washington at 5:20 in the afternoon on Friday exactly twice. The first was when the Federal Government was shut down in 1995, and the second was last year in early October when we passed our omnibus bill on a Saturday morning and everybody stayed here Friday night. I go home on weekends. I am here today because my friend, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp), reserved this time to talk about one of my highest priorities, which is the development of alternative energy resources. Now, he is right. I serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and, as such, we have jurisdiction over energy matters, shared with the Science Committee, a little bit with the Ways and Means Committee. And it is a high priority. I voted against the energy bill last year when it came to Congress. I voted against it in the committee. And I did so because I felt that it really did not reflect a balanced approach to the development of our Nation's energy resources and energy priorities. You know, energy is not about Republicans or Democrats, about conservatives or liberals or moderates, or whatever. It is not about philosophy. It is really about region.…”