John Hoeven

I wish to thank the minority leader, but I ask him to repeat his question. Mr. McCONNELL. As the Senator from North Dakota was engaged in conversation, I was talking about his leadership role in this endeavor the last 6 years and the…

I thank the good Senator from Georgia. I understand that our time has expired. I ask unanimous consent for 1 minute to wrap up this colloquy. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Heitkamp). Is there objection? Without objection, it is so ordered.

That is absolutely correct. We have the dates of the approval of five different environmental impact statements right here, all finding no significant environmental impact.

So I ask my friend from Oklahoma to talk for a minute about the technology and what that means for the future of this country and energy security.

I appreciate the comments of my esteemed colleague from Texas, and I want to share my agreement with the important points he made so well. (The remarks of Mr. Hoeven pertaining to the introduction of S. 2823 are printed in today's Record…

The railroads need to bring more resources to meet the needs in North Dakota.

We've been pretty aggressive on this issue, and BNSF has responded and they have given us a very detailed plan.

We're the fastest growing state in the country and the railroads need to bring the resources.

We need it for coal and for oil and gas and for other commodities as well.

We need--not only do we need to continue to be proactive until we get that, but so does the STB.

BNSF has put forward a very substantial resource plan to address the need.

Your commitment to work with us is much appreciated and we look forward to it.

We need housing, and we particularly need housing in the energy patch in the West.

In this Administration who leads energy policy, the Department of Energy or the EPA?

The nuclear industry is under a serious challenge right now.

We need markets. It creates jobs. It creates economic activity and we have bills that we're not able to advance.

We're in the 6th year of trying to get a permit, trying to get a decision on a pipeline that would bring oil from Canada.

So that's why I go back to this issue. If you're going to truly have an all of the above energy policy, you've got to be an enabler.

To say all of the above promotes some and prevent others is not all of the above.

Should we have that flexibility or not in the program?

There should be no flexibility.

This Committee is working on reauthorization of the Healthy School Lunch Program. We all want our kids to be healthy and have nutritious meals, but there is a disagreement on the flexibility that is needed for the school lunch program.

I turn to the good Senator from Arizona for any final comments. Seeing that he doesn't have any, I thank him. I also thank the good Senator from Wyoming and ask if there are any final comments he might have on the legislation. He has been…

I would respond briefly to the Senator from Arizona and then turn to the Senator from Wyoming on that issue as well for more detail on the legislation. He has tremendous expertise in this area and has been working on it for a long time…

I thank the Senator from Maryland and the Senator from Rhode Island for coming to the floor and making exactly the type of point I am making. Thank you for being here. This is the debate we should have, and it should be vigorous, as it is…