Nancy Pelosi: “What the gentlewoman's amendment would do is return us to the system that prevailed in this country for two-thirds of…”

“What the gentlewoman's amendment would do is return us to the system that prevailed in this country for two-thirds of the last century, through the Great Depression, World War II, the oil crisis, and made us the greatest industrial power on Earth. It is cost-based rates, and it goes to every individual generator, unlike the gentleman from California (Mr. Ose) who said this would encourage inefficiency and the dirty plants would operate first and everybody would pay the price. No, that is what the Bush Federal Energy Regulatory Commission did. They said the price will be based on the least-efficient plant, and the most-efficient plant will get that price. The FERC also found in December that the prices were not just and reasonable. They were violating Federal law. And since that time, we have found wholesale prices 10 times that of 2 years ago. We found Texas-based energy conglomerates whose profits are up 1,000 percent in 1 year. The price of energy has gone from $7 billion to $27 billion in California in 1 year, and that is spreading up into the Pacific Northwest.”