María Elvira Salazar: “I first acknowledge my good friend from Connecticut for his good work on the DRIVE Act over the last several years. It…”

“I first acknowledge my good friend from Connecticut for his good work on the DRIVE Act over the last several years. It is no coincidence that he and a number of bipartisan Senators have been leading the effort to make sure we set America free. In fact, the coalition that helped in writing the legislation Senator Lieberman spoke about calls itself the Set America Free Coalition. It includes conservatives such as C. Boyden Gray and progressives such as former Senator Tim Wirth, who have come together and recognized that setting America free from our addiction to foreign oil is an imperative for the United States in the 21st century. Similar to the good work that gets done in this Chamber, this is bipartisan legislation. This amendment also has the cosponsorship of Senators Brownback, Coleman, Lincoln, Cantwell, Kerry, Dodd, Collins, Kohl, and Reed of Rhode Island, and others. It is a good amendment that reflects the bipartisan composition of this body. Let me say why I believe this ambitious set of goals for the United States is important. It is irrefutable that today about 66 percent of the oil being used in America comes from abroad. Of the oil we are importing from those foreign countries, 41 percent of it comes from underneath the sands or lands of hostile regimes.”