[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 57 (Thursday, April 29, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S4630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           AMENDMENT NO. 3050

  Mr. DAYTON. Madam President, I thank my friend from Nevada for this 
opportunity to speak on behalf of the amendment being offered by 
Senator Daschle to the bill before the Senate about the use of ethanol 
and other renewable fuels.
  Here we are in the middle of this energy price crisis in our country, 
when in Minnesota the price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is 
almost $2, and in other parts of the country it is as high as $2.50. 
Possibly it is going higher. I am being asked what are we doing about 
bringing the price of motor fuel down. I think the honest answer is 
nothing. There is not a whole lot we can do when we are dependent upon 
foreign supplies of oil, when we are sending $115 billion a year 
overseas to buy that product.
  Senator Daschle's amendment--I give him great credit for every year 
championing the cause of renewable fuels, with the opportunity that is 
right before us in America today to shift from foreign oil consumption 
to using a cleaner burning, lower priced, American-grown, American-
produced fuel, not as a substitute for MTBE--the additives to 
gasoline--but as a substitute for gasoline itself. I know that because 
I drive all over the State of Minnesota in a Ford Explorer, factory-
produced, with a slight modification to the usual engine. It was 
modified in the factory. I drive on 85-percent ethanol and 15-percent 
gasoline. Today it is 20 cents a gallon cheaper than regular unleaded 
gasoline. I can get it in most places in Minnesota.

  We can give the American people a choice to have a homegrown fuel 
with the money staying in America to benefit our rural economies. We 
can renew it every year. We know we can produce the amount that will be 
necessary, and today it will cost 20 to 15 cents a gallon less than 
regular unleaded gasoline and likely in the future $1 less than the 
rising cost of gasoline. If we are not going to take any steps to bring 
about that opportunity, people will think we are out of our minds.
  I do not understand why the debate today on Senator Daschle's 
amendment about why do this, or why not do this and even more.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. DAYTON. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent for 1 minute to 
finish my remarks.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask that the majority have an additional 
1 minute in morning business also.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DAYTON. Madam President, Senator Daschle has been heroic in my 
caucus and this body in his support for those who are not in corn-
producing States who support ethanol and other renewable fuels, 
biofuels as products. But this is not just about South Dakota or 
Minnesota. Yes, it benefits my State. It benefits the farmers of my 
State. This benefits America. This is the best opportunity in my 
lifetime to shift our energy consumption from our traditional sources 
and their costs to something that is American, that is clean, and that 
is cheaper. I am amazed we are not racing to the stores for that 
product. We have it. Senator Daschle's amendment will take us in that 
direction. We should be doing even more than that, but this is an 
important first step. I urge my colleagues to support the amendment.
  I thank the Chair. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wyoming.

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