John Ensign: “last year, we had a debate on increasing LIHEAP funding, but we had to pay for it last year. We paid for it by allowing…”

“last year, we had a debate on increasing LIHEAP funding, but we had to pay for it last year. We paid for it by allowing drilling in ANWR. The ANWR provision got stripped out in the Senate. So the amount of money to pay for LIHEAP was no longer present. I would like to see drilling in ANWR. I think it is important to diversify our energy supplies in America. The money would have been there and people would not have had objections. I agreed to that last year. This is purely deficit spending even though the proponents of the bill say it is not because of the phony budget games that are played around here. But because it is deficit spending, we are going to try to make sure that the money is spent fairly across the United States. That is what this whole debate is going to come down to in the next day or two. Mr. President, with that, I reserve the remainder of our time, and I suggest the absence of a quorum. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll. The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.”