Political Quotes

“first, I would like to thank both the chairman and the ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senators Domenici and Bingaman, for working together in a more open and bipartisan way in developing the bill we are considering today. While there are many provisions that should be in this bill but aren't and many other provisions in here that I don't agree with, this bill could have been worse. There are numerous extraneous and environmentally harmful provisions that were in previous energy bills but are not included here. I appreciate both of my colleagues' efforts to avoid those pitfalls and produce the Energy bill we are now considering. However, there remains one very large and glaring omission in this bill. While framed as a ``comprehensive national energy policy,'' this bill completely ignores the most important energy issues facing America, our growing dependence on foreign oil and the impact this dependence has on our economic security and national security. I have no doubt that our Republican colleagues will go home and hold press conferences claiming victory. They will say that they finally broke through the obstructionism and passed an energy bill that will reduce America's dependence on foreign oil; a bill that will make America more secure. I wish that were true--but it is not. This is not an energy policy for America in the 21st century. And that is very unfortunate.…”