Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from Arizona for allowing me to speak about an amendment we are going to be voting on at 2 o'clock. I wish to express my concerns with provisions in the Defense authorization bill that we are currently considering that would limit the Department of Defense in investing in alternative fuels. This underlying bill is a very important piece of legislation. I have always supported it to make sure our military has the equipment and resources and effective policies it needs to perform its mission. But I can't support the inclusion of provisions that would severely limit the Department's ability to use alternative fuels. I strongly believe those limitations will cause lasting harm to our national security and our military readiness and our efforts to decrease American dependence on foreign oil. That is why we are considering an amendment that I cosponsored that will strike one of those troubling provisions in section 313 of the committee-passed bill. As many of our colleagues are aware, DOD is the single largest consumer of oil in the world, using over 355,000 barrels of oil per day in fiscal year 2011. Even though we have increased the domestic supply of traditional fossil fuels here in the United States, the price of oil is still set on the global market. That means that DOD's fuel bill was significantly more than it had budgeted for, mostly, of course, due to the price of fuel being higher than expected.…”