John Mica: “actually I'm pleased to be here on a Saturday because we should be here on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and through the…”

“actually I'm pleased to be here on a Saturday because we should be here on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and through the entire week to address the issue of energy independence for this Nation. People who drive up to the gas pump want some relief from high energy costs. People who get their bill at home and are struggling to pay that high power bill are being challenged, people on fixed incomes, and also, the country's being held hostage now importing so much fossil fuel. And this is all supposed to be about climate change. We all want to preserve and protect the climate. We had a little piece of this in the T&I Committee. But actually we could make a big impact, because if you look at the emissions into the atmosphere that are causing global warming and some of the problems, power generation is one of the biggest generators of that pollution and degradation of our environment. And then transportation, all you've got to do is look at the cars and trucks and the use of energy and then polluting our environment and adding to the warming of the climate. But unfortunately, in our committee markup, Republicans tried to add some real energy policy changes to this bill, and they didn't accept them, the Democrats didn't accept them.”