OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act - Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

Date: July 23, 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Natural Resources


WARM IN WINTER AND COOL IN SUMMER ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED -- (Senate - July 23, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GREGG. Madam President, will the Republican leader yield for a question?

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I will be happy to yield to the Senator from New Hampshire for a question.

Mr. GREGG. Madam President, it seems to me that the Republican leader has outlined the process for getting this bill completed. He has listed seven amendments which are reasonable and which are significant because they involve--well, in the area of oil shale, over $2 trillion of potential reserves, in the area of offshore oil, literally years of reserves, and on the issue of nuclear power, a chance to produce a clean energy that does not pollute the environment and addresses the issue of clean energy.

I presume the Republican leader--certainly, one of those amendments might be my amendment, and I would certainly be agreeable to a time limit. Would the Senator agree that we on our side would be willing to agree to reasonable time limits for debate on each of these amendments so there could be an orderly process which would have a time certain for completion of this bill sometime early next week?

Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I say to my friend from New Hampshire, of course we would be happy to agree to time agreements on our amendments. We want to go forward. There is no effort to slow this down. We want to make progress. Frequently, as my friend from New Hampshire points out, the way you make progress when you offer an amendment around here is, you agree to a time agreement. There is a certain amount of risk involved because you do not know whether you are going to win or lose, but you move forward.

That, I assure my colleagues, is the way we handled the energy bill last year, it is the way we handled the energy bill in 2005, and it is the way to make a law and to make a difference for our country.

So I would say to my good friend, the majority leader, that is where we hope we will end up, in a position where both sides can have their fair say on this important issue and just maybe come together and do something important for the American people.

I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward