Peter Welch: “this point of order is really essentially about whether or not we are going to consider the rule and, ultimately, the…”

“this point of order is really essentially about whether or not we are going to consider the rule and, ultimately, the Energy Independence and Security Act. In fact, I would say that it may well be an effort by folks who are opposed to the legislation to find a way to kill the legislation itself. We believe that this legislation should proceed. The fact is that the other side had absolute control in this body or had a majority in this body for 12 years, enjoyed control in both bodies and in the administration for the past 6, for most of that 6, and did not come up with an energy policy that did anything other than raise the cost of oil, home heating oil, gasoline, increase our dependence on foreign oil, weaken our national security and contribute to global warming. This legislation is about changing the direction of American energy policy, and the issues that have been raised in this legislation are ones that have been debated outside of this body for several years. The legislation now brings to this body for its consideration such topics as increasing fuel efficiency, energy efficiency, green buildings, cellulosic agriculture-based energy efforts that will be vital to the farm sector and rural sectors of our economy.”