[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 23, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7129-S7130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             STOP EXCESSIVE ENERGY SPECULATION ACT OF 2008

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has expired.
  The question is on agreeing to the motion to proceed.
  The motion was agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 3268) to amend the Commodity Exchange Act, to 
     prevent excessive price speculation with respect to energy 
     commodities, and for other purposes.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.


                           Amendment No. 5098

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk, and I ask 
for its consideration at this time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the amendment.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 5098.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading 
of the amendment be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       The provisions of this bill shall become effective 5 days 
     after enactment.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to 
be a sufficient second.


                Amendment No. 5099 to Amendment No. 5098

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the 
desk, and I ask that it be reported.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the amendment.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 5099 to amendment No. 5098.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that further reading 
of the amendment be waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In the amendment, strike ``5'' and insert ``4''.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, it seems that the Republicans have two tools 
in their obstruction and delay kit. It is a tool kit that has worked 
quite well for them. First, they prevent the Senate from getting to 
bills. The Republican leader uses this tool when he can convince enough 
of his caucus to kill legislation before the Senate debate even begins.
  Second, when a bill is so popular that the Republican leader is 
unable to convince enough of his colleagues to kill it before debate 
can begin, he switches to his second tool--claiming the process is 
unfair. That is what we have before us today.
  The Republican leader requests an unlimited or virtually unlimited 
number of amendments on which he is unable or unwilling to provide 
specifics. When these requests are not accepted in their entirety, as 
the Republican leader knows they cannot be, he then turns to his caucus 
and asks them to oppose any further action on the bill.
  Regardless of which tool the minority leader uses, the result is the 
same. The Republicans refuse to let us address the most critical 
priorities of the American people.

[[Page S7130]]

  This situation reminds me of a story I learned as a young lawyer that 
has now become somewhat legendary, which says: If you have the facts, 
you pound the facts. If you have the law, you pound the law. If you 
have neither, you pound the table.
  That is exactly what is happening today and has happened on many 
other occasions. Unfortunately, it has happened, Mr. President, a 
record number of times this session--84 filibusters. That is 
obstruction at its zenith.
  Republicans would love to muddy the issue by claiming that the 
Democratic majority won't let them be heard, but that is simply not the 
truth. Democrats have proposed a comprehensive plan to address our 
energy crisis, starting with speculation. The Republicans, if they do 
not like our speculation legislation, let them offer something to the 
contrary. The Republicans have been talking about their plan for weeks 
and weeks now. That plan is to drill, to drill, and to drill.
  Now, both parties want more drilling. It is not something that simply 
the Republicans want. We Democrats believe that increasing domestic 
production is certainly a big part of the problem, and we should do 
something about it. But, Mr. President, realistically--and we all know 
this--realistically we have a situation where we have, counting ANWR 
and all the offshore oil, less than 3 percent of the oil in the world. 
We use more than 25 percent of the world's oil every day. So we can't 
produce our way out of the problem. We can certainly increase domestic 
production, and we should do that, and we have a comprehensive plan to 
do that.
  Our approach is different from theirs on drilling. We believe our 
approach is more responsible because we basically force the oil 
companies to take a look at the land and do an inventory of it and tell 
us why they are not using certain pieces of land. That is 68 million 
acres in addition to about 25 million acres in Alaska that are 
available with the signing of the President's pen. That increases it up 
to, as you know, about 90 million acres.
  We have offered our plan to the Republicans. They say they want to 
drill. They have talked about what their drilling plan is, and we have 
said: Let's have a vote on it. But they have said no. They can't take 
yes for an answer. So it is very clear. The only conclusion the 
American people can reach from this is that the Republicans would 
rather talk than act. They would rather score, in their own minds, some 
kind of political points with the oil companies than accomplish 
something for the American people.
  The Republican leadership has refused our offer of votes on drilling, 
so I am going to now, Mr. President, file cloture on this piece of 
legislation before us--the speculation legislation. I think it is very 
important that we do that, and it is important for a number of reasons.
  I should mention that one of the things they refuse to take yes for 
an answer on is their drilling proposal. But I am confident the 
American people are seeing what the Republicans are doing, and have 
been doing, for 18 months--talking and talking about drilling and then 
running for the exits when we give them a vote on what they have asked 
to do.
  I am equally confident, when given a choice of who to send to 
Congress, the American people will choose to send people who want to 
get things done and not those who seek delay, obstruction, and the 
failed ways of the past.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                             cloture motion

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I apologize to everyone. I wanted to make 
sure I hadn't missed anything in my script.
  I now send a cloture motion to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the Chair directs the clerk to read the cloture motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     hereby move to bring to a close debate on S. 3268, the Stop 
     Excessive Energy Speculation Act of 2008.
         Harry Reid, Richard Durbin, Barbara A. Mikulski, Frank R. 
           Lautenberg, Christopher J. Dodd, Byron L. Dorgan, 
           Bernard Sanders, Patty Murray, Benjamin L. Cardin, 
           Dianne Feinstein, Amy Klobuchar, Robert P. Casey, Jr., 
           Ron Wyden, Ken Salazar, Bill Nelson, Debbie Stabenow, 
           Daniel K. Inouye, Sherrod Brown.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum 
call has been waived.


                            Motion to Commit

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to commit the bill to agricultural 
committee with instructions to report back forthwith, with an 
amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] moves to commit the bill 
     (S. 3268) to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and 
     Forestry with instructions to report back forthwith, with an 
     amendment numbered 5100.

  The amendment is as follows:
       At the end, insert the following:
       This title shall become effective 3 days after enactment of 
     the bill.

  Mr. REID. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.


                           Amendment No. 5101

  Mr. REID. I have an amendment to the instruction at the desk. I ask 
now for its consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 5101, to the instructions of the motion to commit.

  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be 
dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In the amendment, strike ``3'' and insert ``2''.

  Mr. REID. I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to 
be a sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.


                Amendment No. 5102 to Amendment No. 5101

  Mr. REID. I now have a seconddegree amendment at the desk. I ask the 
clerk to report the amendment.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid] proposes an amendment 
     numbered 5102 to amendment No. 5101.

  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent the reading of the amendment be 
dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment is as follows:

       In the amendment, strike ``2'' and insert ``1''.

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