[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 71 (Monday, April 26, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S2190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Business Before the Senate

  Madam President, now, the Senate has a lot to accomplish by the end 
of this week.
  We will confirm several highly qualified nominees to the executive 
branch, starting today with the nominee for Deputy OMB Director, Jason 
Miller. Later this week, we will also confirm Janet McCabe for Deputy 
EPA Administrator, Colin Kahl for Under Secretary of Defense for 
Policy, and Samantha Power for Administrator of USAID.
  Our Senate committees will continue holding hearings and markups on 
at least a dozen other nominees. The Senate will also consider two 
important environmental infrastructure policies.
  First, the Senate will take up the Drinking Water and Wastewater 
Infrastructure Act of 2021. This legislation passed through the 
Committee on Environment and Public Works with unanimous support. In 
fact, this water infrastructure bill is a core component of the 
Republican infrastructure proposal released last week. It also 
addresses many of the recommendations put forward by the Problem 
Solvers Caucus last Friday. So I hope that this is a signal to the 
entire Senate that we should work together on infrastructure where and 
when we can.
  Senators Carper, Duckworth, and Cardin have been outstanding leaders 
on this issue and have made sure Members from both sides of the aisle 
have had the opportunity to offer amendments, just as we did last week 
on the anti-Asian hate crimes bill. We are going to continue working 
with our Republican colleagues on the timing for a vote on the water 
infrastructure bill. On a topic this straightforward and bipartisan, I 
hope that our Republican colleagues will cooperate so that we may 
finish the bill ASAP. We have a lot to do.
  I want to also thank Senator Capito, the ranking member of the 
committee, for working with Senators Carper, Duckworth, and Collins so 
well.
  The Senate will also vote on a measure this week to restore critical 
regulations on the release of methane into our atmosphere. In 2016, the 
Obama administration instituted a rule that required energy companies 
to better monitor and reduce methane leaks. The rule not only drew 
cheers from the environmental community, it earned the support of 
industry as well
  Even though methane is far less talked about than carbon dioxide, it 
is far more potent. A tonne of methane warms the atmosphere 86 times 
more than a tonne of carbon dioxide. On the plus side, however, methane 
does not linger in our atmosphere as long as CO2 does, and 
emissions can be reduced rather cheaply. So, when it comes to combating 
climate change, tackling methane delivers a huge bang for your buck.
  That is just what the Senate intends to do this week by reimposing 
commonsense rules to reduce methane emissions--hopefully, on a 
bipartisan basis. We already have the support of at least one 
Republican Senator. We welcome more. The industry supported this. 
Again, Donald Trump, often with just the nastiness of ``it was Obama's 
rule, so I ought to repeal it'' did. It hurts us big time. I want to be 
clear. The methane CRA is a big deal. This measure will help us address 
the climate crisis in a major way. It is nowhere close to everything we 
want or need, but it is very important.
  Last week, President Biden set an ambitious goal for the United 
States to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of the 
decade. This week, the Senate will take up the first of many important 
steps we need to take to achieve that ambitious goal.