Political Quotes

“I assume there is a little bit of time to make a couple of comments as we are waiting. I would commend the chairwoman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, for she and the ranking Member have done an excellent job of moving us through. I think we all appreciate it when we hear the words ``an amendment has been withdrawn'' in terms of being able to move the process forward. I did want to mention a couple of things. One, just to remind everyone, when we talk about this Canadian oil company bringing a pipeline through the United States down to the Gulf--putting it on a ship and sending it to China--they are not paying into the oilspill liability trust fund. Our amendment to say the oil should stay here if Americans are taking all the risk was voted down. The amendment that would require American steel was voted down. Any commitment to make sure these were all American jobs has also been voted down. I did also--because the distinguished Chair of the committee mentioned a bill that came over from the House--want to take a moment to say as we look at energy policy in the energy committee today we are, in fact, considering what I consider to be one of the most fundamental questions for us moving forward with this new energy source in abundance called natural gas. It is incredibly important we get this right.…”