Ron Wyden: “before he leaves, I hope the Senator can stay a bit longer as well because I so appreciate his insight and input on this…”

“before he leaves, I hope the Senator can stay a bit longer as well because I so appreciate his insight and input on this issue. The Senator from Arizona has been making these points ever since--in the Finance Committee and in the Energy Committee we were talking about this legislation. And you and I and others said: Let's think through now how to use scarce taxpayer resources wisely. Let's take out a sharp pencil and say there are going to be some areas that you set aside, and there are going to be some areas you promote. I have been talking about Senator Thomas's efforts at some length here today because I think Senator Thomas gets it in terms of what we ought to be looking at as far as our long-term needs in terms of production. The Senator from Arizona said we should be taking our hat off to people who produce energy. I certainly second that. And I am glad the Senator has done that. I want to say I think what we are trying to do in our amendment--and you and I and Senator Lieberman in particular--is we are saying not only do we want to be supportive verbally of what people are doing to produce energy in our country, but we want to say, as we have outlined in the royalty relief amendment we are talking about here, is they can get royalty relief when it is needed. In other words, this is not a bunch of verbiage where people come over to the floor of the Senate and say: Oh, maybe you will be able to do this; maybe you will be able to do that.…”