Pete Domenici: “I rise today before we leave on this recess to tell the Senate and those interested in how we do the people's business…”

“I rise today before we leave on this recess to tell the Senate and those interested in how we do the people's business, what a successful 6 months we have had in the Senate. I have been here a long time. I believe this first 6 months has been like a great marathon runner. We started off slow and crossed the finish line a winner. About 4 hours ago, we passed the first comprehensive Energy bill in about 14 years. We have been trying for 6 years, and now it is done. The Senate did that in a bipartisan way, and we worked with the House and got a great policy for our Nation. A few moments ago, we passed a comprehensive Transportation bill for all of our States and our people, and regardless of what is said about it, in meticulous detail it is a terrific jobs package and infrastructure building bill for America. In addition, I submit that we have also accomplished some things we never were able to do: we enacted a bankruptcy reform act. I know people wonder why that is important, but we will not talk about why. Let's just say credit is the lifeblood of our Nation. If something is wrong with the credit system, you have to fix it. We have been waiting around to fix the bankruptcy law, which is an integral part of the credit system, for at least 5 years. We passed the bill about three times in the Senate and, yes, in this particular 6 months, we did that. We sent it to the House and it is a law.…”