Political Quotes

“would the Senator from South Dakota enter into a colloquy to discuss concerns I have with his bill S. 1956 and a suggested amendment I have filed for consideration, which is currently running through the hotline process? First of all I want to thank my colleagues for their willingness to work with me to address some of the concerns I have with this bill as it was reported out of the Commerce Committee. While I have some ongoing reservations about the precedent and potential impacts this bill could have on our relations with our closest European allies, I am willing to allow legislation to move forward if I may get consent to have my amendment agreed to. I would like to discuss my amendment and the process which the legislation prescribes the Secretary of Transportation to follow in determining whether to prohibit U.S. airlines from participating in the European Union's carbon emissions trading scheme. The second paragraph of subsection (a), section 3 of the legislation contains a provision that is designed to ``hold harmless'' U.S. airlines from the fees, taxes or fines that they incur from the EU under the emissions trading scheme. While the Secretary of Transportation has discretion as to how he will act to ``hold harmless'' our air carriers, it is understood that these actions could possibly require some form of payment by the Federal Government.…”