Earl Blumenauer: “after 12 years of failure to deal meaningfully with a comprehensive energy policy Republicans instead, gave this…”

“after 12 years of failure to deal meaningfully with a comprehensive energy policy Republicans instead, gave this Congress and the American public a legislative grab bag. Today, under Democratic leadership, we are starting in the right direction to give conservation and energy choice, which Americans understand will take more than 100 hours, given the schizophrenic approach to energy by this administration and the previous Republican Congress. We want to make sure, Mr. Speaker, that we are dealing with an overall framework to reduce greenhouse gases, to deal with carbon emissions, to provide predictability for all the players, whether they are people who are going to be dealing with alternative energy or they are the American consumer. By eliminating unnecessary subsidies to form a fund to deal with alternative energy conservation and global warming is a terrific start. I am pleased that we are doing it at the conclusion of these first 100 hours and look forward to more in the months to come.”