[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 43 (Wednesday, March 4, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1450]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                S. 2657

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, in the meantime, the Senate will 
continue considering an important package of comprehensive energy 
legislation. For the first time in more than a decade, we are looking 
at a thorough update to the laws governing innovation, security, and 
workforce development all across the American energy sector.
  As Chairman Murkowski has noted, 12 years is a long time. The demands 
we face in researching, producing, refining, storing, and protecting 
our abundant domestic energy have evolved a great deal since 2007, so 
it is high time for relevant Federal policy to evolve as well. I am 
grateful the chairman was willing to take on this important task, and I 
am glad she and Senator Manchin led their colleagues on the Energy and 
Natural Resources Committee through an overwhelmingly bipartisan 
process to produce this bill.
  As I mentioned yesterday, the legislation aggregates 50 individual 
bills. It contains input from more than 60 Senators. It covers an 
exhaustive range of energy-related challenges, from power storage and 
renewable technologies to carbon capture and electrical grid cyber 
security.
  It has earned the support of a similarly broad range of industry, 
advocacy, and research organizations. In one joint letter, the 
Bipartisan Policy Center, the American Nuclear Society, the Nature 
Conservancy, and 36 other signatories endorsed it as ``the culmination 
of extensive efforts to develop practical legislative solutions.'' That 
is the American Nuclear Society and the Nature Conservancy--that ought 
to tell you what you need to know about this bill. This is a bipartisan 
piece of legislation done right. This is how you take practical steps 
to build consensus on issues that affect every American in every State.
  Around this time last year, you will recall we saw a high-profile 
example of exactly what not to do. The far-left edge of the House 
Democratic caucus rolled out a massive scheme to forcibly remake much 
of our economy and our society according to their radical top-down 
designs.
  We all remember the Green New Deal--categorical bans on the most 
affordable forms of American energy, a dim future for millions of 
energy jobs, unprecedented Washington mandates on every subject from 
building codes to personal transportation. We all remember what 
happened next: This socialist fantasy did not stay confined to 
ideological fringe; it quickly grew into a broader rallying cry. When 
the Senate had the opportunity to vote on this wish list of central 
planning, only four--just four--of our Democratic colleagues could 
bring themselves to vote against it. That is quite a remarkable 
commentary on the state of our politics.
  Experts estimated the Green New Deal could have cost our government 
more than the GDP of the entire world. The Green New Deal could have 
cost our government more than the GDP of the entire world. Instead, 
this bipartisan legislation will let us direct responsible and targeted 
investment in a smart way toward key energy priorities.
  The Green New Deal sought to have Washington micromanage everyday 
life in this country to a degree that the 20th-century Socialists would 
have drooled over. Instead, this bipartisan legislation will create 
better policy and regulatory conditions for American workers, American 
innovators, and American job creators to actually thrive.
  Speaking as the senior Senator from Kentucky, I know firsthand that 
many Americans in the middle of the country suffered badly during the 
Obama era because Washington bureaucrats decided American energy had to 
fit their ideological designs. The very last thing we want is to move 
backward and expand those errors exponentially with radical leftwing 
experiments that would make the last administration's War on Coal look 
like child's play.
  What Kentuckians and all Americans deserve is for the Federal 
Government to make prosperity and domestic energy dominance easier--
easier--not harder. They deserve investment and support to help the 
communities that have fueled this country for generations to prosper 
once again, and that is what this bipartisan bill will actually 
deliver.
  I am proud to support this smart legislation. Clearly, I am not 
alone, since only three Senators voted against advancing the bill this 
week. So I would urge all of my colleagues to keep up their support, 
and let's see this package through to the finish line.

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