Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator. From the start, let me say that Senator Boxer and I are not on the same side on the principal bill. I have long been one of the staunchest supporters of the Keystone XL Pipeline bill. A lot of what we have heard today is about the consequences of aging infrastructure. So the question I have for Senator Boxer is: Would it not make sense, as we are talking about this Keystone XL Pipeline bill, that we find common ground that we all should agree that we need the resources to have the regulatory authority and the regulatory personnel to go out and make sure that aging infrastructure--the infrastructure underneath the Great Lakes and what happened now in the Yellowstone River--that we have a robust and very complete PHMSA organization that has the personnel to go out and follow the pipeline, test the pipeline, and review the results? But even as important to me is PHMSA's role in making sure that our transportation of oil on the railroad is actually adequate, that we have adequate regulation. So one of my amendments--not pending but filed--is, in fact, an amendment that would address directly what I would hope would be common ground for everyone in the Senate, which is making sure we are, in fact, regulating interstate pipelines. I also wish to talk about how we have an ``all of the above'' policy that everybody talks about where we somehow don't seem to get to that point.…”