Angie Craig: “I rise after a great deal of consideration as to the amount of work that has been done on this energy bill by the…”

“I rise after a great deal of consideration as to the amount of work that has been done on this energy bill by the chairman of the full committee and by a good number of interests. My colleague from Wyoming is on the floor. He spearheaded a group dealing specifically with title II, the electricity title, of this very large and important bill. He labored mightily over that. I was involved, and my staff was involved, in some of those discussions. But the reality became clear to me and others that the electrical title of this bill is such a very complicated, extended title-- attempting to rework and amend years and years of law and public policy that has built up, that has driven the capitalization of the largest electricity industry in the world and, frankly, one of the best--that without the kinds of detailed hearings that must come before a full committee of energy, we could not effectively and responsibly write this title in this Chamber. I have opined on many occasions here that this bill did not get the treatment of the committee, it did not get the treatment of the subcommittees, it did not get the treatment of the professional staff and all of those who are interested as stakeholders in dealing with this very critical title. As a result of that, after several weeks of consideration, I decided it was appropriate that we have a vote on the reality that we cannot get as far as we would want to get.”