John Kerry: “With respect to--I ask the Senator from Alaska about this. The other day, in the Washington Post, Paul Portney, who is…”

“With respect to--I ask the Senator from Alaska about this. The other day, in the Washington Post, Paul Portney, who is the chairman of the National Academy of Sciences panel that the Senator referred to --and he is the president of the think tank--said that what we are proposing in our bill is--I am quoting--``roughly consistent with what the Academy identified as being technologically possible, economically affordable, and consistent with the desire of consumers for passenger safety.'' Is the Senator aware that the chairman of the panel signed off on that?”