[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 29, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10079-S10080]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE ENERGY BILL

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I want to very briefly comment on the 
Energy bill. I did not make a statement on the bill and indeed was a 
bit disappointed on the progress we made yesterday for lots of 
extenuating circumstances. I do want to point out my absolute 
commitment to aggressively addressing the bill this morning and over 
the course of this week. Today, we do begin our 16th day, our 16th day 
of consideration on this Energy bill on the Senate floor. Just to point 
out to my colleagues, 16 days is longer than we spent on any other 
single bill this year. In fact, it is twice as long as we spent on the 
Medicare reform bill, the Medicare prescription drug bill. I say that 
only to encourage my colleagues to come to the floor, offer amendments, 
allow us to offer the amendments so that we can debate and vote on the 
amendments that people are at least considering.
  Time and time again the statement is made that we spent 7 weeks on 
this bill last year on the Senate floor. Seven weeks, that was 24 days 
that we spent last year, and last year the bill didn't go through 
committee. It was not marked up. It wasn't debated in committee. It was 
taken straight to the floor.
  Now we have a bill that was marked up, debated in committee, and now 
we spend 16 days on it. We need to finish this bill this week. We need 
to stay focused with it and we can't tolerate the sort of delays we 
have seen to date. We need to aggressively recognize that we have a 
period of this week and use the time that is available.
  The issue of organizing how we do these amendments and sort of 
getting them done procedurally is what I have been concentrating on, 
but I think all of us have to step back and recognize the substance of 
this bill is what is important. It is incumbent upon us as U.S. 
Senators to address an issue that has been put forth by the President.

  An Energy bill has been passed by the House of Representatives, and 
we have a bill on the Senate floor that we are debating and we must 
address and finish and complete this week.
  A strong energy policy is what Americans want. It is what Americans 
deserve, a policy that, indeed, balances new production with 
conservation, with the development of renewable resources, all of which 
is crucial to strengthening our economy and our national security.
  In terms of the economy, we know this bill will have a direct impact 
on the creation of jobs--not just 100,000 jobs or 300,000 or 400,000 
but 500,000 jobs it is predicted this bill will create.
  We know what has happened with natural gas prices. We have seen what 
has happened with those prices just since we have been discussing this 
bill. Again, it calls upon us to pass this Energy bill which sets out 
our policy.
  While we have addressed issues, not as aggressively as I would like, 
gas prices have shot up. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has 
made

[[Page S10080]]

the statement that there is no end in sight. To put this in some sort 
of perspective on a personal level, 80 percent of the Nation's 35,000 
laundromats have raised prices in the past year due to high natural gas 
prices. Folks who have to take their laundry to the corner Sit and Spin 
are facing, every day, prices that increased over the past several 
weeks and months and may well increase into the future.
  That is why we need to respond and respond expeditiously. If you take 
it beyond the personal level to the industry level, the U.S. chemical 
companies are closing plants. They are laying off workers. They are 
looking to expand their own production, not domestically but expand it 
abroad, as a result of high prices.
  Next year, the United States is expected to import, to bring into 
this country, approximately $9 billion more in chemicals than it will 
export.
  American industry is caught between regulations, on the one hand 
limiting the supply of natural gas, and regulations encouraging its use 
on the other. The result is rising gas prices with some industries 
cutting jobs. Again, I want to keep coming back to jobs because it is 
an Energy bill, an energy security bill, but it is also a jobs bill. We 
find some of these industries not just cutting jobs but sometimes being 
priced out altogether. And, of course, consumers are being hit with 
higher and higher electric bills.
  We need to diversify our sources of energy. We must do so in a way 
that lessens our reliance on foreign sources. So when you summarize and 
step back, our energy policy should be one that is consistent with our 
foreign policy; that is, it is independent and it is secure. By 
increasing America's domestic production of clean coal, of oil and gas, 
nuclear, ethanol, solar, and other renewable energy sources, we 
increase not just our energy supply but we increase our national 
security.
  Furthermore, by passing the comprehensive energy package we will be 
creating jobs; as I mentioned, as many as 500,000 jobs. Indeed, the 
Alaskan pipeline, for example, will create at least 400,000 jobs alone. 
The hundreds of millions of dollars that will be invested in research 
and development of new technologies will not only benefit the 
environment, which we know will be benefited, but it also will create 
new jobs in engineering, in math and chemistry, science, physics.
  So, in summary, we cannot continue to dither or delay. We need to 
focus over the next 4 days on this bill, bring amendments to the 
chairman and ranking member, bring them to the floor for debate so we 
can vote.
  We simply cannot let the behind-the-scenes political maneuvering in 
any way deny the American people energy that is cleaner, that is more 
abundant, and, indeed, more secure.
  We need to take action this week for the sake of our economy, for our 
national security, and ultimately, and what is probably the bottom 
line, for our fellow Americans who are paying these bills each and 
every month. It is time to pass an energy policy for the 21st century. 
I am confident we can do so this week.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________