Ed Markey: “The amendment offered by the Senator from Texas is drafted so broadly that it allows just about every nation which is a…”

“The amendment offered by the Senator from Texas is drafted so broadly that it allows just about every nation which is a member of the World Trade Organization to automatically receive natural gas exported from the United States of America. The process is just eliminated--automatic. What will that do? No. 1, it will increase prices to American consumers. The Energy Information Agency has already determined that the LNG export facilities already approved are going to lead to a 50- percent increase in the price of natural gas here in America. It would jeopardize American manufacturing which has seen 700,000 new jobs created in the last 5 years in America largely because of low-priced natural gas. It is going to increase carbon pollution because it is going to slow the pace of change from coal over to natural gas in the generation of electricity. It is going to undermine our trade negotiations because it is all going to be given away here on the Senate floor. And, finally, it is going to harm our national security, because if we converted one-third of our trucks and buses, it backs out all the oil that we import from the Persian Gulf by using natural gas in American vehicles. We are going to ship jobs along with that gas going overseas. I urge a ``no'' vote on the Cruz amendment. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired. Under the previous order, the question is on agreeing to amendment No. 15 offered by the Senator from Texas, Mr. Cruz.”