[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 136 (Thursday, October 11, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10636-S10637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ENERGY LEGISLATION

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I rise to make a short comment regarding 
energy legislation. I have heard a few of my colleagues question how 
Majority Leader Daschle is handling the Senate schedule. I want to take 
exception to those complaints.
  I believe the Majority Leader has done an outstanding job moving 
legislation this Congress. We started the year with a new 
Administration and then the Senate changed hands, that is difficult 
enough. And since September 11 we are in truly extraordinary times. 
Yet, under his leadership, and with the leadership of President Bush 
and Minority Leader Lott, we have moved quickly and decisively to 
approve the use of force, to appropriate emergency funding and assist 
the airline industry. That progress stalled this week with objections 
over the airline security proposal, but that is hardly the fault of the 
Majority Leader. It's ironic that members came to the floor to protest 
the schedule for an energy bill on a day that their leadership delayed 
the airline security bill. Majority Leader Daschle is not the problem.

[[Page S10637]]

  As for the Majority Leader's decision to move an energy bill directly 
to the floor, that's his prerogative as our majority leader. It's been 
done before and it will very likely be done again. Chairman Bingaman 
has asked that we support the Majority Leader's decision, and I do. The 
Majority Leader's decision recognizes the reality that energy policy 
reaches beyond the Energy Committee in an important ways. It impacts 
issues in the jurisdiction of the Finance Committee, Commerce 
Committee, the Environment and Public works Committee, among others.
  As for his managing of the Senate schedule for the remainder of this 
session, I trust that he will use his best judgement, and will, as he 
always has, confer with the minority, to decide the order of 
legislation. We have spent more than a week on airline security, a 
priority issue I believe. We then must address the terrorism prevention 
bill. We have several appropriation bills to take up and pass. We may 
consider an economic stimulus package. We may consider a Farm Bill. And 
we really don't know what else will be necessary of us in the coming 
weeks. The past month has demonstrated the unpredictability of our 
work. So, I would urge the Majority Leader to listen to all Senators' 
concerns but to be wary of demands from members that we consider 
legislation in their preferred order. We have a lot of work to do, 
little time to do it, and don't know what the coming weeks may hold.
  Very briefly, I'd like to comment on two statements made regarding 
energy security on the floor yesterday. First, one of my colleagues 
noted that America imports more than 50 percent of our oil, and then 
implied that should we find ourselves in a military conflict those 
imports, half the oil we consume, might be lost. I want to say, to 
assure my colleagues and the public, that that dire scenario is not at 
all plausible. Today, America depends less on the Middle Eastern oil 
than we did during the oil embargo of the 1970s. We import almost 30 
percent of our oil from Mexico, Canada, Great Britain, Colombia, Norway 
and Venezuela. It's wrong to suggest that these nations would abandon 
the United States during a military conflict.
  Secondly, I have heard statements referring to the energy needs of 
the U.S. military, suggesting, I guess, that if we don't pass an energy 
bill immediately the military might run short of fuel. The military 
doesn't lack the oil it needs to operate. Even if this fictitious 
worldwide embargo of U.S. oil imports that my colleagues contemplate 
ever took place, this Nation's military would have all the oil it 
needs. I don't want any suggestion that our military is unprepared 
because of a shortage for oil to stand.
  There are real energy security issues this Nation must address, but 
we do not need to exaggerate the threat. We need to be reasonable, in 
the process and the substance of this bill. I support the Majority 
Leader's decision and look forward to participating in the broader 
effort to craft a sound bill.

                          ____________________