Jeff Bingaman

It is customary, however, for the Senate to confirm noncontroversial cabinet nominations at the beginning of a new Administration by unanimous consent without first referring them to committee.

America's dependence on oil leaves us vulnerable to energy supply disruptions and to price volatility.

Global warming is a threat multiplier for instability and will fuel political turmoil.

Congress should look at that.

In 2009, Senator Jeff Bingaman worked to include the Rio Grande Pueblos Irrigation Infrastructure Act (RGPIIA) in the Omnibus Public Lands package that President Obama signed into law.

I read the language that is in the bill in each of these heritage area provisions that says there is nothing that prohibits or restricts the right of the landowner to deny access to his or her private property. That is the case under State…

I have a similar question as it relates to the status and functions of regional transmission organizations, RTOs, under this language. RTOs often deal in the auction of financial transmission rights and ancillary services associated with…

Likewise, I believe we have taken pains in this amendment to ensure that the current jurisdictional boundaries between the two Commissions are maintained, with respect to the authorities of FERC under the Federal Power and Natural Gas…

Finally, I ask if, in your view, anything contained in this amendment would limit FERC's existing ability to gain information from market participants?

It is certainly my intention, as one of the amendment's authors--that FERC's authority over RTOs would be unaffected.

This is an amendment to add $150 million to the Social Security Administration account so that they can deal with the enormous backlog of cases that are pending there in people applying for disability benefits. The average wait is 523 days…

We have seen a steady trend of more and more forest fires, and more and more fires in general on our public land.

When the fires turn out to be more severe than they anticipated and the costs greater than they anticipated, they beg, borrow, and steal from other accounts in order to cover those costs, and then they come to Congress and say we need to…

Yes, and the chairman's support for this provision was critical to its passage. I'd also like to thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for increasing funding for Advanced Placement programs in this mark to $42 million. As the Chairman…

As the chairman knows, the National Academy of Sciences reported that students in the United States are simply not keeping up with their international peers in the areas of math and science. The National Academy recommended training an…

I very much appreciate that assurance. As I say, I hope very much we can get language that is acceptable to the Senator from Arizona. If not, I think we can allow the Senate to work its will, and hopefully the amendment will pass.

First, I thank the manager of the bill, my colleague from Maryland, and respond that, yes, I am anxious to deal with any concern any Senator has, and I have spoken to the Senator from Arizona about his concerns and have tried to…

I hope we will begin a long-term commitment by the Congress and by the executive branch to ensure our Nation continues to lead the world in innovation and economic competitiveness. This bill has been more than 2 years in the making. One…

I welcome the Director here. This is very important issue.

I do think that this Centennial Challenge proposal has a lot of merit in concept.

Again, Mr. President, in response, let me say we have tried to get agreement that certain of the amendments that are objectionable to some Members on the Republican side--we would agree that we would be bound by a 60-vote threshold on…

The energy tax package that is now a pending amendment to this bill represents a dramatic shift in the direction of our national energy policy from fossil fuel dependence to one that promotes diversified domestic sources of clean energy…

This is one of these feel-good amendments where you can tell your constituents you struck a blow for freedom by outlawing OPEC. The truth is, this is terrible precedent for us to say we are going to drag foreign governments into our court…

Clearly, I think the Tester amendment gives us the best chance of promoting the use of coal to meet our energy needs in the future, and I strongly support it and oppose the Bunning amendment. I hope my colleagues will do the same. I…

On behalf of Dow Chemical Company, I write to offer my strongest support for Senator Tester's ``Coal Innovation'' amendment. Simply put, it will allow companies to build gasification plants in the United States that run on coal, biomass…