Political Quotes

“I rise today to, I hope, bring some balance to this debate. I was stunned in my office listening to the opening comments that it is going to be a new era in America on energy prices. Americans are struggling to heat their homes. Americans are struggling to have fuel to drive their cars affordably. Companies all across this country are struggling to make a profit because of energy prices. And the bill before us will not change that in the next 3 to 5 years. I don't oppose better CAFE standards. It takes 2 or 3 years to design new cars, other years to build them. You are 4 to 5 years away from people. And the poorest among us seldom ever own a new car with high efficiency standards, the poorest among us. Folks, America needs more affordable energy. We have the highest energy prices in the world because of this Congress, because we have locked up natural gas reserves, we have locked up oil reserves. We have not allowed the movement that should be in coal-to-liquids and coal-to-gas, and there has been resistance to expanding nuclear which provides the vast majority of America's energy. I hope renewables become a major force, but it will be years if not decades. Today, Americans need affordable gasoline. They need affordable diesel fuel to fuel our trucks. They need affordable home heating fuel to heat their homes. They need affordable natural gas. And this bill does nothing for any of those. The ethanol, biofuels, the second part of this bill, it is futuristic.”