[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 38 (Wednesday, April 10, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2465-S2466]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I wish to talk a little bit about the energy 
bill, and then the managers of the election reform will be ready to go 
and we will take up that important legislation.
  Mr. President, we need a national energy policy. I think the Congress 
knows that. I think the American people support that. I know the 
President of the United States supports that.
  Right now we see the difficulties with which we are having to deal 
around the world: The instability in Venezuela with regard to oil 
supply from that country, our concerns about the Middle East, the 
threats from Saddam Hussein. We need our own national energy policy. We 
need our own energy supplies. We need to encourage conservation, 
alternative fuels. We need the whole package. And we need to do it now.
  This is a critical time. This is a matter of our economy, it is a 
matter of the creation of more jobs, and it is national security. So we 
need to do this.
  I have not come to the Chamber and really pushed on this legislation. 
Because of the way it was brought to the floor, which is not through 
the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I thought we were going to 
have to do a lot of writing of the bill in the Senate. That is what has 
been happening. That is what has occurred. That is why it took so much 
time. But we have spent 2 weeks on it now. This is the third week. It 
is obvious to me we are going over to next week. But I think it is time 
for the leadership on both sides of the aisle to begin to press for 
this legislation to be completed.
  It would be a mistake for the leaders of either party to allow this 
legislation to collapse after this amount of time, and on this 
important an issue. It is going to be very easy for Members on both 
sides of the aisle to say: I don't like it because of this reason; I 
don't want it for that reason; I don't like this particular provision.
  I don't care for the electricity section, but I just voted not to 
strike it because I think we made some improvements. We ought to go to 
conference and see if we can improve it even more.
  I think it is time that we bring up the ANWR amendment. Let's have a 
debate. I am all for it. I think we need it. I think it is a source of 
supply that

[[Page S2466]]

we can get safely and in a reliable and affordable way that will help 
us with our future energy needs. But let's have the debate. Let's get 
it done. Let's have a vote.
  Then we still have the tax provisiono. I think Senator Daschle and I 
are going to have to both be supportive of completing this legislation. 
I think we are going to have to come to the floor and encourage our 
managers to make progress and to make more progress than has occurred. 
If we do not do it, we are not going to finish it next Tuesday or 
Wednesday; it will be later, and then everything else is moved down the 
line--border security, the immigration reform known as the 245(i) 
issue, trade legislation, the cloning issue.
  We have other work we need to do. So it is approaching that time when 
we need to begin to be serious about amendments and be serious about 
getting to final passage.
  No formal unanimous consent agreement was exchanged or agreed to back 
when we went out for the Easter recess, but we did exchange some lists 
prior to that recess so we could get a look at about what number of 
amendments we were talking. I understand there are about 160 amendments 
that were indicated by the Democrats, and probably over 100 by the 
Republicans--260 amendments? Nobody really believes that. We have 
numerous Senators who have five or six or seven amendments that they 
want. We are not going to have that. We are not going to leave that. A 
lot of these amendments are nonrelevant amendments. We could turn this 
energy bill into a debate over tax policy or over agriculture policy or 
you name it. But we need to keep it focused on energy.

  The truth of matter is that I believe on our side of the aisle we are 
down to 7 to 10 serious amendments. I don't know what the situation is 
on the other side of the aisle. I know Senator Reid is doing his usual 
due diligence, and he is working to try to get the list narrowed down. 
We don't have locked in an agreement on the list. I am worried about 
what appears to be a slow rolling still going on. Look at what we have 
done here today. We had a vote on one amendment. This afternoon, we had 
a couple of quorum calls. We have an amendment pending, and I guess it 
is possibly going to be modified.
  I understand we are going to have to have some debate about ethanol. 
Does anybody think we are going to do that in 30 minutes? Does anybody 
think we are really going to change what is in this bill on ethanol? 
Not really. You can debate about whether it is wrong or right, but the 
fact is the die is cast on that issue. We need to begin to deal with 
reality in this area.
  I don't know where these amendments are. But I was very disturbed to 
hear it suggested yesterday that Republicans are slow rolling this bill 
when, as a matter of fact, we have been offering amendments. We have 
been getting votes. We have been working to narrow down our list.
  We need a little help on the other side if we are going to complete 
this legislation. I have been encouraging Senator Murkowski to go 
forward with the ANWR amendment. Let us have the amendment. Let us have 
the debate. Let us get started. After we complete that, let us move to 
lock in the amendment list and begin to move toward finishing this 
bill. In order for that to occur, we will have to make a lot more 
progress tomorrow, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday than we saw today.
  Let us quit pointing fingers about who is not doing what. Let us quit 
thinking about what we might do if this bill doesn't work just to suit 
our particular desires. Let us get this legislation completed.
  The Senate has a lot of work before it. We have over 50 bills that 
have been sent over here from the House of Representatives with which 
we haven't dealt. If we get to the middle of next week and we have not 
completed our work on this energy bill, or if we have this energy bill 
pulled for whatever reason and we have another goose egg on our ledger, 
shame on us.
  At this time in our history and what is going on in the world, if the 
Senate cannot pass an energy policy for our Nation, then I really just 
have to wonder what we are going to be able to do together in a 
bipartisan way for our country.
  I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. This is not 
intended to be partisan. I don't want it to be that way. I am saying to 
everybody it is time now that we begin to move to finish this bill and 
produce a bill that can go to conference, which hopefully can be worked 
out, the President can sign it, and then in the future hopefully we 
will have more national security and economic security than we will 
have without it.
  I thank my colleagues for allowing me to have this moment to 
encourage a result. Maybe we can follow the example of what we are 
about to see on election reform.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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