Steven Holt: “While the process of moving this legislation forward has taken some time, it has also demonstrated that Members of both…”

“While the process of moving this legislation forward has taken some time, it has also demonstrated that Members of both parties, Members of both Houses, can work cooperatively and in good faith to reach bipartisan solutions. This is the sort of legislative action Americans want to see us undertaking. The legislation before us is a version that none of us would write if left to our own devices. Every Member who has worked on this bill, every stakeholder affected by this bill has had to make compromises to achieve a shared goal of maintaining the supply of helium that is important. We have had to make substantive changes to address legitimate policy concerns, and we have had to make technical changes to address parliamentary and budget matters; but we have gotten the job done. I wish we could use this as a model for the continuing resolution, for the debt ceiling, for the farm bill, for so many other things. With the clock ticking, the need to get this legislation across the finish line is urgent. As I said when we considered this bill back in April, helium is not used just to fill balloons. It is critical for MRI, magnetic resonant imagining, machines; it is necessary for preparing NASA rockets for launching; for high-tech manufacturing such as cleaning silicone chips for integrated circuits; and for lots of important scientific research. For many of these applications, there is simply no replacement for helium.…”