Political Quotes

“I rise to address the Vitter amendment, No. 2103. In speaking in opposition to that amendment, as I said, like all these amendments that are up for us to vote on today, I believe they are detrimental not only to the Export-Import financing program but to the compromise that has been worked out by Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives in the legislation that is being supported by the chamber of commerce, U.S. manufacturers, a bipartisan list of Governors, and many businesses across America. The reason the Vitter amendment is a horrible idea, actually, is that the amendment would basically cut off or curtail American companies in their ability to compete on energy projects on a worldwide basis; that is, it would eliminate the bank's current 10 percent goal for renewable energy projects. This is a longstanding requirement that has been incorporated into the Senate Foreign Operations bill. Why someone would oppose it here I am not sure. As somebody who knows a lot about energy and works on energy all the time, I can tell you that one of the goals we have as a country should be for the United States to win in the energy debate. Look at what a tremendous market opportunity new energy solutions are for our economy, for the worldwide economy. It is somewhere from $4 trillion to $6 trillion. A lot of people like to talk about the Internet and the great things on the Internet. By comparison, it was somewhere between $2 and $4 trillion.…”