Political Quotes

“I take this time to speak on the floor of the Senate to express my disappointment in last week's district court decision on the Cardin-Lugar provision of the SEC rule. An amendment offered by Senator Lugar and me on the Dodd-Frank legislation imposed certain transparencies on extractive industries. It was a pretty simple position. It said that those companies that are registered on the SEC that are involved in extraction of minerals would be required to disclose on a project-by-project basis the details of those contracts. We did that for many reasons. We did it because we thought transparency is right. We did it in order to deal with energy security so that we know the types of contracts that are being entered into. We did it so investors would have information in order to decide whether they wanted to invest in the stock. The United States has been in the forefront of transparency, and this decision will delay implementation of a vital transparency rule that will shine much needed sunlight on information designed to protect investors and to promote U.S. energy security. The Cardin-Lugar amendment and the SEC rule are critical to achieving important U.S. policy objectives. These objectives include protecting U.S. interests in both national and energy security. Why do I say that? Having transparency in what the extractive industries are doing makes it more likely we will have stable energy sources globally.…”