David Thomas: “I take a few minutes this morning to talk about a topic to which we will soon be moving. We have properly spent a good…”

“I take a few minutes this morning to talk about a topic to which we will soon be moving. We have properly spent a good deal of time on the budget. We spent a good deal of time on taxes, although that is not finished yet. I congratulate the chairman on his excellent work on the tax bill. It sounds as if we will be able to present that to the President and successfully give tax relief to the American people. We also have been heavily involved in education. We have not finished that area yet. We will soon be returning to it. Those have been the most current topics and perhaps, indeed, among Members the most important topics. There is another topic that is very important to everyone and one to which we are moving, and that is energy and energy policy. After having an energy policy, we will begin to implement that policy so we can make sure we can provide the necessary energy in a way that is careful and watchful about the environment. I think we can do this. One of the important things that has happened is there is now an energy policy from the White House that will be open, of course, to great debate and great discussion in the Congress and in the whole country. The fact is we have not had a policy on energy for a very long time. That is one of the reasons we find ourselves in the position we are in now. We have not looked ahead and we have not responded to the market messages that were sent in California.”