María Elvira Salazar: “last Thursday night, very late in the evening, this Chamber put its arms around a new energy bill. It is an energy bill…”

“last Thursday night, very late in the evening, this Chamber put its arms around a new energy bill. It is an energy bill that deals with making sure we move forward with alternative fuels in a robust and real way for the future of America. It is an energy bill that says we have had enough as Americans wasting 60 percent of our energy, and we can do much better on efficiency. It is an energy bill that says it is time for us to move forward from the point in time where we have tolerated vehicles that have not had the kind of efficiency we know is technologically possible in America, so we are going to adopt new CAFE standards. It is a piece of energy legislation that says we recognize the linkage between how we use fossil fuels here in America and the global warming that is occurring around our globe. So we said we would move forward and take some new steps in the way of sequestration of carbon dioxide emissions. This is a good piece of legislation. It is a bill which we hope--I hope and I know many Members of this Senate, led by Senator Bingaman and Senator Feinstein and others, and Senator Reid--makes it to the President's desk.”