George Voinovich

It's crucial that the U.S. Government have a coordinated approach for combating organized crime and corruption in Europe.

The urgent need to confront them is heightened in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks against our country on September 11.

These activities have the potential to bankroll terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda.

I am saying there was some difference of opinion, and it didn't do everything they wanted, but the consensus was that the new A-76 regulation that was proposed by the administration was better than the old A-76 procedure that we have.

I am also reassured to hear the strong conviction of my colleague from Oklahoma that donor States should receive a minimum rate of return of 95 percent on the share of their contributions to the Highway Trust Fund. I too look forward to…

In other words, if the grid had been more robust, would that have had anything to do with this?

So the thing is that the utilities that were involved in the MISO, when the new law goes into effect, you are going to have the mandatory reliability standards which will put in some discipline into those organizations to do certain things.

The problem here in the Senate is that there is never a perfect piece of legislation, and too often, we let the perfect get in the way of something that is good

Somebody ought to pick up the phone. We all know who they are----

And this does get it done for you, with penalties.

Well, it would be very important to this Senator and to Senator Carper if you could communicate that to several of the Senators on my side of the aisle

So again, you really feel that if what is in this legislation was in place, in your opinion, this probably would not have happened.

I think that we should all feel very good that finally, we are doing something about reliability and mandatory standards.

Well, I am glad you brought up some of these other issues.

My concern is that if this bill is not passed, what are we going to do in the interim period of time?

OK; so the fact is that we are putting incentives in here for companies to go ahead and invest in transmission lines.

So from a practical point of view, the reliability standard organization, say, NERC, if they get the job, would say this is really needed.

That protocol would have to be worked out, because you have different situations in different States.

What if the mandatory reliability organization says that we need a transmission line in order to improve upon the grid, and the States say we are not going to do it?

They are responsible for siting it, correct?

Now, we want to make it clear that FERC is not anticipated to do this.

You do not necessarily have to do this today, but there are different jurisdictions.

But that is based on the fact that this legislation would be passed now.

If it is not passed now, that means we are in limbo until such legislation is passed.

I am prayerful that it is not filibustered so that we cannot move forward and get it done before we go home.