On the recordJuly 23, 2014
I came to the floor to speak on these two commonsense pieces of legislation. My dear friends Senator Shaheen and Senator Portman--Democrat and Republican--have worked so hard in a bipartisan way, which we don't always see anymore on the floor here or over on the House side. It is a shame. People tell me about how things used to be. I have been here not quite 4 years, and I haven't seen it yet. I am still waiting for it to happen. But we have a bill, the Shaheen-Portman bill. It is basically a bill that creates jobs, saves money, makes significant strides toward a more energy-efficient nation, which we should be. I am from an energy-producing State, the great State of West Virginia. My dear friend Senator Heitkamp is from the great State of North Dakota, which is a tremendous energy-producing State. We believe in energy policies. We believe we should be using everything we have to make sure we have the economic engine so we can compete globally and in a very competitive way. With that being said, this is the low-hanging fruit. This is truly low-hanging fruit. And we all agree--why shouldn't we pass a piece of legislation that basically we all benefit--all 50 States will benefit. The bill will put us on a path toward a more sustainable future. It has broad support, as we can see. And our colleague Senator Cornyn from Texas will tell you that if it got voted on, it would pass overwhelmingly.…
