[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 23, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7091-S7092]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--S. 3268

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all postcloture 
time be yielded back and the Senate adopt the motion to proceed to S. 
3268; that once the bill is reported, the only amendments in order be 
one amendment for each leader, or designee, on the subject of drilling 
and that these amendments be subject to an affirmative 60-vote 
threshold; that if the amendments do not achieve that threshold, then 
they be withdrawn; that debate on each amendment be limited to 2 hours 
each, to be debated concurrently, equally divided and controlled in the 
usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate 
proceed to vote in relation to the majority amendment first in the 
sequence; that upon disposition of both amendments, the bill be read a 
third time, and the Senate then proceed to Calendar No. 864, H.R. 6377, 
the House companion; that all after the enacting clause be stricken and 
the text of S. 3268, as amended, if amended, be inserted in lieu 
thereof, the bill be advanced to third reading, and the Senate then 
vote on passage of H.R. 6377, as amended, without further intervening 
action or debate.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  The Republican leader is recognized.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, we all 
agree--I know the majority leader agrees with me--and we all understand 
the price of gas at the pump is the biggest issue in America. The only 
thing that has rivaled this in recent years was terrorism right after 
9/11.
  The American people overwhelmingly are in favor of seeing us get at 
the business of solving this problem. With all due respect to my friend 
from Nevada, to deal with the biggest issue in the country with a 
couple amendments is not consistent with the traditions of the Senate, 
not even consistent with the traditions of this current Senate led by 
my good friend from Nevada.
  On last year's Energy bill, we had 15 days on the floor. We had 16 
rollcall votes. Forty-nine total amendments were agreed to. At the time 
we were dealing with our Energy bill last year, the price of gas was 
$3.06 a gallon--about a dollar per gallon lower than it is now. Even 
though it was a serious problem, it is even more serious now.
  Back in 2005, when my party was in the majority, we had an energy 
bill on the floor. We spent 10 days on it. Gas at that time was $2.26 a 
gallon. We had 19 rollcall votes. Fifty-seven amendments were 
ultimately agreed to.
  The American people expect us to approach this issue seriously, to 
grapple with it. I think sort of dealing with it in a dismissive 
fashion or trying to deal only with a small portion of it does not pass 
the threshold of credibility.
  So, Mr. President, I would object to that consent request, and I 
would offer a counter consent request that would be more consistent--I 
do object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  Mr. McCONNELL. That would be more consistent with the way we have 
operated on this hugely important issue, even in this Congress just a 
year go.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate proceeds 
to the bill, it be limited to energy-related amendments only; further, 
that the amendments be offered in an alternating fashion between the 
two sides; I further ask unanimous consent that the bill remain the 
pending business to the exclusion of all other business, other than 
privileged matters and other matters that the two leaders might agree 
upon.
  Before the Chair rules, I would say to the other side that what this 
would do would be to allow us to have a debate on this issue consistent 
with the way we have dealt with this issue in the past, when it was not 
even the biggest issue in the country, as it is now, entirely 
consistent with the traditions of the Senate on matters of this 
magnitude.
  I would say to my good friend from Nevada, what are we afraid of 
here? Why should we not be spending our time dealing with the most 
important issue in the country?
  So, Mr. President, that is the consent request I proffer.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, for the American people here, let's check 
this out and understand the Republicans are not even now wanting to 
maintain the status quo. They want to go backward. They want yesterday 
forever. We are not back when we were debating other energy bills. We 
are debating today's energy crisis, and that energy crisis is pretty 
significant.
  We have two issues before this body today that we should resolve. No. 
1, all experts, with rare exceptions, say the runup in prices is caused 
by speculation--20 to 50 percent. The American people could stand a 
break at the pump. If we pass antispeculation legislation, let's say it 
is the lower number--we only lessen gas prices by 20 percent--that is 
pretty significant. Let's do simple math: $4--20 percent--that is 80 
cents a gallon. It is then $3.20 a gallon rather than $4 a gallon. 
Pretty good. That is what we are being called upon to do here today. 
The Republicans do not want to do that.

  In addition to that, get this picture: For weeks, the Republicans--
weeks--the Republicans have been talking about they want to have 
Governors decide what should happen off their coasts. Let's have a vote 
on that. If they think that is the crucial thing to do rather than 
speculation--drilling is their deal--let's vote on their proposal, and 
anytime we will take that as a debate we would love. We will take 
theirs. We will have a counterproposal. We will debate those two 
issues. That is what we should do. But instead of that, the Republicans 
are running as they have done all year, dodging and feinting and 
saying: Well, not today. Later. Later. We are saying: It is time to do 
this now.
  There is no question this energy thing is extremely important, and we 
should do something about it. We say: Let's do it. Let's get the 
domestic production thing done. Let's have a vote on that. We believe 
our proposal is extremely important, and it will certainly do a great 
deal to affect the price of oil, not the least of which in our proposal 
is telling President Bush to do something with the huge multimillion 
gallon reserve we have, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and start 
drawing some oil out of that. His dad did it, and it lowered prices 
some 10 or 15 percent. So we have speculation at 20 percent minimum. We 
will do that. We have another 10 percent. That is 30 percent. We are 
willing to do that debate. That is a pretty significant debate.
  We have a lot of other things we have to do--maybe not as important 
as gas prices but pretty important. Housing we have to work in here 
sometime. We have to do something with old people, senior citizens, 
people who are infirm and disabled who benefit from LIHEAP. We want to 
do that legislation. That is important, and that is also energy 
related. But we are being prevented from doing that because the 
Republicans

[[Page S7092]]

want to live yesterday again. We want to look to the future. That is 
why we believe speculation is where we should be. We should also do 
something about domestic production.
  Finally, there are other things. We are going to have a recess. The 
national conventions are coming. We have to come back in the fall and 
complete our work and that could take a significant period of time. But 
we also have to do something with renewable energy. That is one of the 
main things pending--renewable energy--and we have been prevented from 
doing that.
  Why? Listen to this one. Because the Republicans do not want to pay 
for it. They want to continue, as we have done with the Iraq war, 
spending $5,000 every second in borrowed money. We have been told by 
the House of Representatives--and I have a letter with 218 signatures 
on it--saying: Send us the bill for renewables, and send it quickly, 
but you cannot have it not paid for. You have to pay for it. We have 
two pay-fors. We are going to tax the hedge fund companies, but they 
agree it should be done because they are manipulating the system by 
going offshore playing around with their taxes. Even the hedge fund 
operators say: That is right, we should not be able to do that. But the 
Republicans are holding that up.
  In answer to the energy problems of this country, Sun, wind, 
geothermal, biomass, that is where the future of our country is, as 
indicated by a staunch lifetime Republican by the name of T. Boone 
Pickens. Eighty-one years old, and he has suddenly become bipartisan. I 
am happy about that. I have great admiration and respect for T. Boone 
Pickens. T. Boone Pickens has said: I have made my fortune in oil, and 
that is not where it is. His words were: I don't want to leave this 
Earth thinking all I was interested in was making money. I want to 
change this country. What he wants to do is have a few years--5, 6 
years--where there would be a bridge using natural gas, and then it 
would all be done with renewable energy. That is T. Boone Pickens, and 
he is putting his personal fortune on the line to do that.
  Al Gore has done a wonderful job presenting the problem. T. Boone 
Pickens has done a wonderful job of pointing out to the American people 
what the solution is. That is what we should be doing--not debating how 
many amendments will be offered. We want to do something on 
speculation. We want to do something on domestic production. That is a 
pretty good step forward for the American people.

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