Political Quotes

“I appreciate my colleague from California giving me an opportunity to respond. As those of us on the floor probably remember, several weeks ago we were talking about trying to address the Energy Efficiency and Industrial Competitiveness Act, also known as Shaheen-Portman, an effort that Senator Portman and I had worked on for 3\1/2\ years to try and put in place a comprehensive energy efficiency strategy for this country. The bill has no mandates in it and no new spending. It has the support of over 260 groups--everybody from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the National Association of Manufacturers to the NRDC to several trade unions, companies from Johnson Controls to Honeywell, the American Chemistry Council. It has the support of a broad coalition of people. According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, if the legislation of Senator Portman and myself were to pass this year, by 2030 it would help create 192,000 jobs, save consumers $16.2 billion a year, and it would be the equivalent of taking 22 million cars off the road. As part of that discussion, we actually had what we thought was an agreement to have a vote on Shaheen-Portman on a date certain that would have a 60-vote threshold and also have another vote on the Keystone Pipeline on a date certain. All the Senators would know when the vote would take place, and again it would have a 60-vote threshold.…”