Political Quotes

“before I begin what has turned into my weekly discussion about the sacrifices of 198 North Dakotans who lost their lives in Vietnam, I wish to briefly mention and associate myself with the remarks of my great friend and tremendous colleague, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, as she talks about oil exports. I will tell you this: There are very few issues we confront in the Senate where there is absolutely nothing on the negative equation. What do I mean by that? Changing this policy has hundreds of good ideas and good reasons, and there is absolutely no reason not to do it. As we continue to pursue fairness for the oil-and-gas-producing industry, allowing them to seek their market as we continue to pursue an opportunity for our consumers to experience lower oil and gas prices, as we kind of move forward with oil and gas policy, I think it is critically important that we understand and appreciate that in this arena, the effort is bipartisan, the effort is essential for energy security in our country, energy independence in our country, and energy security across the world. I applaud Senator Murkowski for taking on this issue. I believe that as she has said, this is the year it must get done. I look forward to our continuing efforts, our bipartisan efforts to move this along. ____________________”