Political Quotes

“this week members of both parties have offered a number of energy-related amendments to the pending bill. The minority leader has even said he is willing to limit the number of amendments to five--five energy-related amendments--and the majority leader continues to say no. I am not sure what the majority leader is afraid of in terms of allowing people to vote. People come to the Senate and they are expected to speak up and tell people their positions on various issues. One of the amendments I had hoped to offer today expedites liquefied natural gas exports. The magazine The Economist recently published an article with the headline: ``The petro-state of America: The energy boom is good for America and the world. It would be nice if Barack Obama helped a bit.'' The article explains that the process for obtaining permits to export liquefied natural gas from the United States is insanely slow. This isn't an exaggeration. In over 3\1/2\ years, the administration has approved only seven applications to export LNG. The administration is sitting on 24 pending applications. Fourteen have been pending for more than a year, and some have been pending for more than 2 years. These administration delays are unacceptable. The excuses have run out. We have introduced legislation. LNG exports are a critical component of stopping Russian aggression against our key allies and strategic partners. Nine of our NATO allies import 40 percent or more of their natural gas from Russia.…”