[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 11 (Thursday, January 22, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 116. Mr. COONS submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to 
amendment SA 2 proposed by Ms. Murkowski (for herself, Mr. Hoeven, Mr. 
Barrasso, Mr. Risch, Mr. Lee, Mr. Flake, Mr. Daines, Mr. Manchin, Mr. 
Cassidy, Mr. Gardner, Mr. Portman, Mr. Alexander, and Mrs. Capito) to 
the bill S. 1, to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline; which was ordered 
to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. __. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING ENERGY POLICIES.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
       (1) energy is central to a strong, diverse, and vibrant 
     economy;
       (2) the United States has benefitted greatly from abundant 
     supplies of a range of energy resources throughout the 
     history of the United States;
       (3) the United States will continue to prosper by ensuring 
     that balanced pathways are in place to develop energy 
     resources that are clean, reliable, affordable, and secure;
       (4) the United States must continue to transition to a 
     lower carbon energy future;
       (5) the United States should address that climate change is 
     real and caused by human activities;
       (6) climate change is already impacting the United States 
     with sea level rise, ocean acidification, and more frequent 
     and intense extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, 
     wildfires, and heat waves;
       (7) the United States has a responsibility to children and 
     future generations of the United States to mitigate the 
     harmful effects of climate change while producing and using 
     ever-cleaner forms of energy from all sources;
       (8) solutions that address the energy and climate 
     challenges of the United States and the world must involve 
     developed and developing nations around the world;
       (9) there is no 1 pathway to address the challenges of 
     climate change, but rather, different approaches must be 
     employed to meet these challenges;
       (10) energy policy approaches must take into account the 
     reductions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, 
     methane and superpollutants, such as hydrofluorocarbons;
       (11) a first beneficial step toward an improved energy 
     policy is the establishment and implementation of a national 
     Quadrennial Energy Review;
       (12) investing in the development of innovative clean and 
     renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies will 
     enhance global leadership and competitiveness of the United 
     States and can create and sustain short and long term job 
     growth;
       (13) breakthrough technology development requires more than 
     simply investing in research and development, it requires 
     bridging the lab-to-market gap with a variety of public 
     private partnerships ranging from STEM education through 
     workforce training to support for innovative business 
     investment;
       (14) effective clean energy innovation policy requires 
     support throughout the entire innovation pipeline from basic 
     research to early market transformation;
       (15) economy-wide, regional and sectorial approaches have 
     been demonstrated and are proving that reductions in 
     emissions can be made while still growing the economy and 
     providing high-paying jobs;
       (16) the energy challenges of the United States can be 
     addressed with smart responses which include--
       (A) curbing emissions from the transportation sector;
       (B) reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants;
       (C) strengthening the infrastructure of the United States 
     to be more resilient to climate change;
       (D) encouraging the use of clean energy through tax cuts, 
     credits, and deductions;
       (E) reducing emissions of short-lived climate forcers;
       (F) significantly improving energy efficiency solutions;
       (G) investing in research, development, and demonstration;
       (H) making the electric grid smarter and more reliable;
       (I) improving land management planning;
       (J) ensuring that a smart regulatory system is in place; 
     and
       (K) addressing the energy-water nexus challenges;
       (17) responsible action requires putting a price on carbon 
     and both mobilizing action domestically and negotiating 
     bilateral and multilateral agreements to strengthen and spur 
     international action; and
       (18) the longer the United States waits, the more severe 
     and costly the impacts of climate change will be, and the 
     harder it will be for children of the United States to 
     address this crisis.
       (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
     the United States should act responsibly to develop 
     bipartisan energy policies that lead to a lower carbon 
     future.
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