Jeff Bingaman: “Mr. President, today we are beginning a second attempt on the Senate floor--in the last Congress and this Congress--to…”

“Mr. President, today we are beginning a second attempt on the Senate floor--in the last Congress and this Congress--to craft a comprehensive national energy policy. Last year, as colleagues will remember, we passed an energy bill with an 81-to-11 vote. It was bipartisan. It was, in my view, a balanced approach to energy supply, energy efficiency, and many other important issues centrally related to energy, such as climate change. This year, I first begin by congratulating Senator Domenici on the process he has followed and his success in getting an energy bill to the floor. We have had disagreements, and continue to have disagreements, on particular issues dealt with in the bill, but I appreciate very much the courtesy he has afforded to me and to my staff in the process he has followed in developing the bill. In spite of the process that has been followed, I fear we are beginning with a bill that does not, at this point at least, command the same broad level of support perhaps that we were able to finally arrive at last year. I voted against the bill as it came out of committee because I did not think it was a sufficiently balanced and comprehensive package.”