Political Quotes

“As my colleague Senator Murkowski said, I am thrilled to be here on the floor of the Senate today after 3 years of work with Senator Portman and so many other people to be talking about the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act. I wish to begin by thanking Chairman Wyden and Ranking Member Murkowski for all of the support and great work the Energy Committee has done to help get this bill to the floor. As they pointed out, and as I know the Presiding Officer knows, the Energy Committee in the Senate has been very bipartisan. I had the opportunity to spend my first 4 years here on the Energy Committee and I can attest to that. I know what great work they have done. The fact they have moved so many bills through the committee already speaks to the consensus they have been able to build on the committee around energy policy. Thank you both very much for all of that great work. Thank you to my partner in this effort, Senator Portman of Ohio. He is not on floor right now, but I sort of claim him in New Hampshire because he went to Dartmouth, so we figure he has some New Hampshire roots. We have worked in a partnership on this legislation. It has been a very bipartisan effort. It reflects what I believe is an affordable approach to the use of energy efficiency technologies. It will help create private sector jobs. It will save businesses and consumers money. It will reduce pollution, and it will make our country more energy independent.…”