Political Quotes

“I rise in support of my colleague and my partner in this energy efficiency effort, Senator Portman, to support his unanimous consent request that the Senate pass H.R. 2126, the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act. I am disappointed to hear Senator Coburn's continued objection to this legislation and to energy efficiency measures. This bill is identical to a more narrowly focused energy efficiency bill Senator Portman and I introduced recently in the Senate. It tracks closely to legislation we have been working on actually for 4 years, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, also known as Shaheen- Portman. The legislation before us, H.R. 2126, is really a shortened version of Shaheen-Portman. Unfortunately, as we know, the longer version, the energy efficiency act, has stalled twice on the Senate floor--not due to concerns about what was in the bill but because of disagreements over other issues that were related to energy but unrelated to our bill. While we may not be able to pass the larger bill this session, the Senate still has an opportunity to pass meaningful energy efficiency legislation by passing H.R. 2126. This is bipartisan legislation that was introduced in the House by Representatives McKinley, a Republican from West Virginia, and Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, and passed the House earlier this year with overwhelming support from both sides of the aisle, 375 to 36. That broad bipartisan support extends beyond Capitol Hill.…”