[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 106 (Friday, July 29, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9373-S9374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005--CONFERENCE REPORT--Resumed

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will now be 2 minutes of debate on the 
conference report accompanying H.R. 6, the Energy bill. Who yields 
time?
  Mr. DOMENICI. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from New Mexico.

[[Page S9374]]

  Mr. DOMENICI. What is the issue before the Senate?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The issue before the Senate now is the 
conference report accompanying H.R. 6. There is 2 minutes equally 
divided.
  Mr. DOMENICI. I understand the distinguished Senator from Wisconsin 
desires to make a point of order.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I have 1 minute; is that correct?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  The Senate will be in order.
  The Senator is recognized.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. I have four fundamental concerns with regard to the 
Energy conference report: it digs us deeper into a budget black hole, 
it fails to decrease our dependence on foreign oil, it rolls back 
important consumer protections, and it undermines some of the 
fundamental environmental laws our citizens rely upon.
  The conference report includes direct spending of more than $2.2 
billion over the 2006-2010 period, exceeding the amount allocated by 
the budget resolution, so I hope my colleagues will join me in 
sustaining a budget point of order.
  Mr. President, I make a point of order that the pending conference 
report violates section 302(f) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Was the motion just made?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. A point of order was made.
  Mr. DOMENICI. I move to waive the point of order subject to 
appropriate provisions of the Budget Act.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico moves to waive the 
budget point of order.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I have 2 minutes; is that correct?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. One minute.
  Mr. DOMENICI. One minute. First, this is almost not a point of order. 
It is $40 million a year. That is because we had $2 billion in direct 
spending, $2 billion in this whole bill. What we did, when we ended up 
doing all of the estimating, it was 2.2. So anybody who thinks this 
point of order is a real budget point of order, it is a nothing point 
of order. Many times the budget process takes $50 million and rolls it 
because they are trying to make things meet, and here we are having a 
point of order making it sound like a bunch--$40 million.
  The last comment is this bill reduces the deficit because the tax 
writing committee came in $6 billion under. We are $200 million a year 
over. Do the arithmetic. The bill reduces the deficit; it doesn't raise 
it. I think this is the very reason the waiver provisions in the Budget 
Act were provided, for mistakes like these in estimating. That is why 
we have a waiver section. Members should vote in favor of the Domenici 
motion to waive.

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion of 
the Senator from New Mexico to waive the Budget Act.
  Mr. CRAIG. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Coleman). The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 71, nays 29, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 212 Leg.]

                                YEAS--71

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Burr
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Craig
     Crapo
     Dayton
     DeMint
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Frist
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Johnson
     Landrieu
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Talent
     Thomas
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner

                                NAYS--29

     Bayh
     Biden
     Boxer
     Carper
     Chafee
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Cornyn
     Corzine
     Feingold
     Gregg
     Isakson
     Jeffords
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Martinez
     McCain
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Reed
     Reid
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sununu
     Wyden
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Thomas). On this vote, the yeas are 71, 
the nays are 29. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn 
having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to and the point 
of order falls.
  The question now is on agreeing to the conference report.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, have the yeas and nays been ordered?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. They have not.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the 
conference report.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There is a sufficient second.
  The question is on agreeing to the conference report.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  The result was announced--yeas 74, nays 26, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 213 Leg.]

                                YEAS--74

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Burr
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     Dayton
     DeMint
     DeWine
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Frist
     Graham
     Grassley
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Johnson
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     Lugar
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Santorum
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Talent
     Thomas
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner

                                NAYS--26

     Biden
     Boxer
     Carper
     Chafee
     Clinton
     Corzine
     Dodd
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Gregg
     Jeffords
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kyl
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Martinez
     McCain
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Reed
     Reid
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sununu
     Wyden
  The conference report was agreed to.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. I move to lay that motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

                          ____________________