[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 19996-19998]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2003

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the Senate will 
resume consideration of S. 14, which the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 14) to enhance the energy security of the United 
     States, and for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Campbell amendment No. 886, to replace ``tribal consortia'' 
     with ``tribal energy resource development organizations.''
       Durbin amendment No. 1384, to amend title 49, United States 
     Code, to improve the system for enhancing automobile fuel 
     efficiency.
       Durbin modified amendment No. 1385, to amend the Internal 
     Revenue Code of 1986, to provide additional tax incentives 
     for enhancing motor vehicle fuel efficiency.
       Bond modified amendment No. 1386, to impose additional 
     requirements for improving automobile fuel economy and 
     reducing vehicle emissions.

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, just briefly, I wish to respond because I 
can tell both in opening and closing the Senate each day that we are 
going to come down to this same sort of dialog of our side of the aisle 
wants to move this bill through and the Democrats, or the other side of 
the aisle, are saying we are not slow walking this and we need more 
time. There is going to be sort of the setup at the end of the week 
with the other side saying we just haven't had enough time.
  I want to make it clear to my colleagues that for the last month this 
bill came before the Senate 16 days. This is the 16th day on the bill. 
We are going to spend every day this week on it. These are not new 
issues. These are issues that we debated, that we talked about, that we 
hashed and rehashed last year. Indeed, it was 7 weeks and 24 days, and 
the issues are essentially the same issues.
  In this Congress, we have gone through the committee itself, and it 
came to the floor on May 6. We spent 16 days on it. We are going to 
spend the next 4 days.
  When I hear these statements either from the Democratic leader last 
night or the potential of a charge at the end of the week that, Well, 
Democrats just didn't want to finish the bill--those are the Democratic 
leader's words--I am

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beginning to think there is some delaying, there is some slow walking. 
I say that because I set up this schedule a long time ago. We are now 
early in the week for this final week being spent on the bill.
  Yesterday we had the other side of the aisle objecting to setting 
aside CAFE and laying down the electricity bill. Yet we just had the 
assistant Democratic leader and the Democratic leader last night say, 
Well, we just got it on Friday.
  The whole point of laying it down yesterday was so we could look at 
it, so we could debate it, and so we could talk about it. Yet we spent 
all day yesterday--or they spent all day--objecting to laying it down 
and to setting other amendments aside.
  It is too early to get into this sort of finger pointing back and 
forth. But I can tell from the Democratic leader's statements--no, we 
are not slow walking it, that you are going to accuse us of slow 
walking it--all I can say is that it is early enough in the week, and 
if we stay focused and if we expeditiously and systematically address 
the issues, we can complete this bill.
  I encourage both sides of the aisle to allow the managers to deal 
with these amendments and organize in a systematic way so we can 
debate. It is our No. 1 priority this week so that we can do what the 
American people deserve, we can pass a bill which has been adequately 
debated and appropriately amended and which fulfills what both sides of 
the aisle want to do; that is, to develop good energy policy.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The minority leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I just wanted to respond briefly to the 
comments made by the distinguished majority leader.
  I, again, will publicly affirm what I have said to him privately--
that we are more than ready to grind out amendments and work through 
the many contentious issues. I listed them last night. He knows very 
well what those issues are.
  We have a very controversial electricity title that was redrafted. 
Once the bill was reported out of committee, for whatever reason, the 
majority decided they didn't like the electricity title and redrafted 
an entirely different electricity title that we had not seen until 
Friday. So we were not able to examine it for purposes of consideration 
of amendments and other issues until this weekend.
  But we also have the question of nuclear licensing, the conservation 
questions which we have talked about, the renewable portfolio 
standards, and a number of issues that hopefully we can address in 
addition to the electricity matter. The tax title has yet to come up.
  You can't slow walk a bill that has not been pending. And it has not 
been pending. We have urged our colleagues to bring the bill to the 
floor so we could walk through these issues one by one and address them 
constructively. For good reason, yesterday we were not able to come to 
the bill, in part because the two managers, out of necessity, had to be 
in New Mexico.
  So we are prepared to deal with the Durbin amendment and then the 
Levin amendment. I know the Campbell amendment is pending after that. 
If we could dispose of that, there is no reason whatsoever we could not 
go to the electricity title and begin debating that and consider 
amendments to the electricity title.
  So I will certainly again offer my cooperation to the distinguished 
majority leader in an effort to begin addressing these issues. But I 
wish it were the beginning of this work period rather than the end. I 
would feel a lot more confident about our ability to complete our work.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, before the distinguished minority leader 
leaves the floor, might I say we, too, are prepared to move quickly to 
the Durbin amendment. Senator Bingaman and I are writing up a list we 
would agree on as to how we would proceed the next couple days. The 
problem is, the pending amendment is the Campbell amendment on Indians, 
and we were going to ask if we could set it aside so we could proceed 
with Durbin and then proceed with the subsequent amendment on 
automobiles which is just pending, and right on down--we have a list--
including getting the amendment on electricity offered today for 
debate.
  But there is an objection to our proceeding. So that means we 
probably will have to take one of two actions: either put the 
electricity amendment on the Indian amendment, which I do not like, or 
we do the Indian amendment first. I don't know if we can do that. So it 
is too bad. Whoever is objecting, it would be good if they would not 
object to just setting the Indian amendment aside. It is being worked 
on. It is not a game breaker; it is just a question that there are now 
people who want to work it out as compared with fighting over it.
  Senator Bingaman is here. I think he wishes to speak.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, if I might respond quickly to the 
distinguished Senator from New Mexico, I simply say that however he 
wants to address the Campbell amendment managerially is his decision. I 
think it is important to dispose of it. You have plenty of options. 
Even though we have a finite list of amendments, you can easily bring 
it back if it is in other forms and address it later on to clear the 
path, if you wish, to bring up the electricity title. So whether or not 
there are objections to setting it aside should not be an impediment. 
There ought to be ways in which to address it, and I know he will find 
one. Again, I will work with him to see if that can be done.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I agree with the points made by the 
minority leader and Senator Domenici as well. Let me just suggest, 
though, that I know Senator Durbin is here ready to debate his 
amendment, on which we hope we can get a vote this morning.
  I think we could go ahead with that debate and then possibly even go 
ahead with some debate on the Bond-Levin issue while we are trying to 
clear any objections on this side. The hope is then we would be able to 
vote on one or both of those amendments before we go to the discussion 
about the Priscilla Owen nomination.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I think the minority leader has 
convinced me, and his suggestion was a good one. I withdraw the 
Campbell amendment provided he has the right to offer it at a later 
date.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there an objection?
  Mr. REID. Objection.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, under the present parliamentary situation, 
of course, it takes consent to withdraw because we have a finite list 
of amendments. We have at least one Senator here whom we have to 
protect. As a result of that, I object.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I thought the other side said I could 
dispose of it however I would like so we could get on with the 
business. I just tried to do that.
  Mr. REID. But of course, Mr. President, we have two amendments ahead 
of that. It is not parliamentary procedure that is proper at this 
stage. When we get to the Campbell amendment, the distinguished 
Democratic leader said the Senator would have to do what he wanted in 
that regard. We stand on that.
  Mr. DOMENICI. We can't proceed with any of the other amendments.
  Mr. REID. But even at that time, even if the other two amendments 
were gone, the alternatives are, as the Senator said, second-degreeing 
the amendment or disposing of it with a motion to table or some other 
thing. But just to agree to withdraw it, I am not in a position to do 
that right now.
  Mr. DOMENICI. We would like to proceed with the CAFE amendment at 
this point.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. If the Senator will suspend, the Chair 
informs the Senator from New Mexico,

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the finite list requires that the amendment must be disposed of. It 
cannot be withdrawn except by unanimous consent.
  Mr. DOMENICI. I say to Senator Durbin, would you like to then proceed 
for a few minutes on your amendment?
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I had the floor, and I will yield in just 1 
second. I would also say, so there is not a problem in the future, I 
don't think you can amend the Campbell amendment with an electricity 
title under the rules that are now before the Senate. I would just 
alert Senators to that.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. I think the Senator from New Mexico had 
the floor.
  Mr. DOMENICI. We will get to that.
  Senator Bingaman wants some time to speak to a Senator. So I ask 
Senator Durbin, how much time would you like to speak on your 
amendment?
  Mr. DURBIN. I am prepared to move to my amendment. It is my 
understanding that the minority leader may be seeking the floor. If he 
is, I will certainly yield to him.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The minority leader.
  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I appreciate the Senator yielding. I will 
not take a lot of time now.

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