I am here to talk about the legislation that is before us--that has been before the Senate today and likely to be before the Senate tomorrow--on economic development but specifically to talk about the interest of promoting economic…

I would be remiss if I didn't thank Sen. Coons for his cosponsorship of our bill and Sen. Landrieu for her contributions.

This is part of, from my point of view, an effort that is sensible in terms of energy policy.

Again, I appreciate all the panelists', the great input we've gotten on the various legislative proposals--particularly on our efficiency bill.

The biggest user of energy in the country, the single biggest user, is the Federal Government.

It sounds like we can improve what's already there and streamline it, but we're not going to let them off the hook, right?

I want to thank you for holding a hearing on S. 1000, 'The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2011'

We appreciate your leadership in introducing such an important piece of energy legislation.

I think it speaks for itself.

It makes a lot of sense. It does have an impact on our economy. It will create jobs.

We want to be sure, as the chairman has talked about, to be ahead of that curve.

over the past couple of days here on the Senate floor we have had a lot of discussion about domestic energy production and there have been a lot of good points made. But, frankly, it is more of a political exercise than something that is…