Angie Craig: “I think all of us stand here tonight happy that a work product is before us, and it would be remiss of me not to…”

“I think all of us stand here tonight happy that a work product is before us, and it would be remiss of me not to congratulate both of the Senators from New Mexico but clearly to recognize Senator Domenici for his chairing of the Energy Committee here in the Senate and the work he and Senator Bingaman have done to operate in a bipartisan way to bring us to where we are tonight. You have heard from both of these Senators, and they have spoken clearly about the substance of the conference report that is before us. I will not go into the detail of that substance. At the outset, let me thank at least two of my staff members, George O'Connor and Corey McDaniel. Both of them have worked on these issues. George O'Connor has been with me literally all of these years as we have worked and struggled through the process. I thank them and thank the staff of the full committee for the tremendous effort at hand that has produced this important conference report. In the 5-year struggle that many Members have been engaged in developing a comprehensive energy policy for this country, at times we thought it was for naught. We would bring it to the Senate, we would spend weeks voting on it, we would work with the House, but we could not produce a final conference report. That work was not for naught.…”