Political Quotes

“we know that in Washington, DC, it is almost as if there is an inexhaustible capacity to manufacture false crises. I am pleased to say that with today's vote Congress avoided a real crisis for scores of American manufacturing and technology companies employing millions of American workers. That is because without the legislation that the Senate just passed, those workers and companies would no longer have been able to get access to helium, which is a critical industrial gas without which these companies cannot operate. In addition to avoiding an immediate crisis for these businesses and workers, the bipartisan legislation that passed the House of Representatives yesterday and the Senate today can be something of a model for how the Congress can act on must pass bills. Senator Murkowski and I have worked for many months on this legislation in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to achieve a number of goals that members on both sides of the aisle support. First, our bipartisan legislation gets the Federal Government out of the helium business permanently--something that should have been done long ago. This bill also addresses the need to ensure helium supplies in the short term. It does this by requiring the Federal Government to shift from selling helium at a government-set price to selling helium at a market- based priced.…”