[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 46 (Tuesday, April 23, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3111-S3112]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CLOTURE MOTION ON THE ENERGY BILL

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I will yield myself up to 10 minutes to 
speak in favor of going ahead with the motion for cloture on this bill.
  This is the sixth week we have been on the energy bill on the Senate 
floor. Today is the 22nd legislative day we have worked on the bill. We 
will be voting this morning on cloture on the substitute amendment that 
was first laid down on February 15. It was modified to its present form 
on March 5.
  Since then, we have had a great many amendments. We have acted on 84 
amendments to the substitute amendment. Of those 84 amendments, 68 were 
adopted, 9 were defeated or otherwise fell, and 7 were withdrawn.

[[Page S3112]]

Seven other amendments are currently pending on the bill.
  One would think that dealing with 84 amendments on a bill would 
represent fairly good progress on a bill, and in many ways it does. We 
have taken up almost all the major issues on the bill, and they have 
been disposed of with very few exceptions. I appreciate the help of 
Senator Murkowski and others who have been active in this debate, 
trying to move this set of issues along and to move the legislation 
along.
  At the same time, we have had many days when Senators have not been 
willing to come to the Chamber and offer amendments. We have had 
periods when Senators have delayed votes on their amendments and been 
anxious to wait until conditions seemed more favorable before a vote 
would occur on their amendments.
  If we in fact were out of amendments, obviously that would be good 
news. The truth is, yesterday at the time of the filing deadline that 
was triggered by the cloture process, there were 115 additional 
amendments filed. Some of those amendments are variations on earlier 
amendments that have been filed. Some are variations on others that we 
understand can be handled. Clearly, we still have a substantial number 
of issues that Senators believe they need to have considered.

  I am also disappointed that our efforts to get unanimous consent on a 
finite list of amendments have been blocked. We have asked unanimous 
consent several times on the Senate floor to get agreement, not on time 
limits--we had never got to the stage where we were asking for time 
limits--but first, before we asked for time limits on amendments, we 
were trying to get a finite list of amendments. The effort to get that 
has been blocked. Even adoption of amendments that both managers of the 
bill have been willing to clear has been a problem for us.
  So we have not had, in my view, the cooperation we need to bring this 
bill to conclusion. We need to have that change quickly if we are going 
to continue on the bill and conclude action on it.
  I know there is great concern as we approach this cloture vote about 
the tax-related provisions. I strongly support those provisions, the 
tax incentive provisions that were voted out of the Finance Committee 
on February 28. I supported those. I believe they are dramatically 
better than the tax-related provisions that were attached to the House-
passed energy bill last year.
  The argument was made yesterday that the Senate should now think of 
this bill as some sort of omnibus tax bill. I think that would be a big 
mistake, for us to now look on this measure as the major tax bill of 
the year and see this as an opportunity for all Senators to come and 
offer all sorts of provisions relating to taxes, particularly those 
that do not relate to energy taxes. I think that would be a very major 
mistake.
  This is not an omnibus tax bill. It is an energy bill. We need to 
bring debate on the bill to a close. I hope we can do so with tax 
provisions included. I know the Senator from Montana has tried to get 
unanimous consent to do that. I support us doing that, having the 
provisions coming out of the Finance Committee brought up, debated, and 
voted on. But clearly we need to keep in context that this is not the 
major tax bill the Senate is going to consider in this Congress, and 
therefore it should not be a vehicle for all sorts of non-energy-
related tax proposals.
  I compliment our majority leader, Senator Daschle, for the enormous 
amount of floor time he has committed to trying to pass this bill. A 
lot of speeches have been made over the last several months implying 
that our majority leader was not committed to moving an energy bill 
through this body.
  His actions speak much louder than words and the rhetoric around 
here. It is clear from his actions and committing 5 weeks of the 
Senate's time to this important issue that he is committed to trying to 
get an energy bill through the Senate.
  I also appreciate the strong support that Senator Lott has been 
providing in trying to move to cloture and move ahead with invoking 
cloture and completing action on the bill. I think that is very 
important as well.
  Energy is a central policy concern in the Senate in this session. It 
is appropriately so. Our President has made it an agenda item for the 
country. Many of us have felt strongly that there are provisions in 
this bill that should be enacted into law. I hope we can do so. If you 
exclude Mondays and Fridays from the calculation, we now have 15 
working and voting days between now and the Memorial Day recess. 
Clearly, there is a limit as to how much of the Senate's time we can 
devote to this very important issue.
  I hope all Senators will support the effort to invoke cloture on the 
substitute amendment. Even if cloture is invoked, there are several 
hard fought battles still to be waged on particular amendments that 
have been offered and that will remain germane.
  I believe we have reached a point where further debate should be 
limited to germane amendments. For that reason, I urge Senators to 
support the motion to invoke cloture.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Who yields time?
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the majority controls 30 minutes. I do not 
know if the minority wishes to use any of their time. It is my 
understanding that Senator Baucus wishes to give remarks in opposition 
to cloture. Is that true?
  Mr. BAUCUS. At this point.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am happy to yield 5 minutes to the 
chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Baucus.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I will suspend my statement at this time 
if someone else wishes to speak.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Senator from Nebraska wishes to speak on 
a subject not related to cloture. I yield 5 minutes to him.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Nebraska is 
recognized.
  Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. President, I thank my colleague and 
friend from Nevada for giving me this opportunity.

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