Don Nickles: “I compliment Senator Domenici, the chairman of the committee. He stated at the beginning of the year that he was going…”

“I compliment Senator Domenici, the chairman of the committee. He stated at the beginning of the year that he was going to produce a very comprehensive Energy bill, and he has done it. I have been in the Senate for 23 years. I have been on the Energy Committee with Senator Domenici for 23 years. This is the most comprehensive piece of energy legislation we have had in that entire time. We have had a lot of people say we need a comprehensive bill, but until now, that hasn't happened. A couple of years ago, there was an Energy bill on the Senate floor, but the Energy Committee didn't have a markup. Senator Domenici, as chairman, decided that wasn't the way to go. He rightly felt the entire Energy Committee should be involved in marking up this bill. We marked it up over a period of months, and took several weeks in committee to report it out. For this open and inclusive committee process I compliment Senator Domenici for his methodology in reporting out this legislation which helped insure a solid and bipartisan product.”