David Thomas: “Mr. President, what we are going to deal with today is an amendment, which will be a second-degree amendment and…”

“Mr. President, what we are going to deal with today is an amendment, which will be a second-degree amendment and substitute for the electric title in the Energy bill. As you know, we have talked about the Energy bill for a good long time on the Senate floor. We have talked about it in committee, and we talked about it last year. So what has happened is the chairman of the committee has done a great job of seeking to take the information that came forward in our discussions in the past about the electric title of the Energy bill and make it more compatible with the issues that have arisen during the previous discussions, and to put it together into an amendment. That is what we will be dealing with. I am very pleased we have come together on the committee with an amendment that deals with most of the concerns about people, with a recognition that there is a changing world in terms of electrical supply and the way it is distributed throughout the country. If we are, in fact, to develop an Energy policy that is designed to give guidance to what happens regarding energy over the next several years, then this is a very important amendment and very important portion of the Energy bill.”