[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Page 29586]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          ENERGY AND MEDICARE

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about two 
monumental pieces of legislation that are coming this way and, 
hopefully, will be passed in the next 48 hours. I am hopeful that we 
will pass the Energy bill. The House has passed this Energy bill. I 
have heard a lot of discussion about it. It was a very hard-fought 
bill.
  Since coming to the Senate 10 years ago, I have tried to have a part 
in passing energy legislation that would make our country self-
sufficient. Ten years ago, I said we were too dependent on foreign oil. 
We were dependent upon foreign oil for about 50 percent of our energy 
needs. Today, 10 years later, it is 10 percent more. We are 60 percent 
more dependent on foreign oil for our energy needs.
  It is a very important issue for our economy. Our economy is not the 
most stable right now, but it is in a recovery. We are dependent on 
energy for our factories, for our businesses, for our economy to remain 
stable, and for us to be able to continue to increase the number of 
jobs in our country. Having more energy self-sufficiency will be very 
important for our country to be able to strengthen our economy, put 
people back to work, and go into a full recovery.
  The bill we will have before the Senate in the next 48 hours is not a 
perfect bill, but it is a bill that I am very hopeful will pass so that 
we can start the process of having an energy policy that includes 
conservation, incentives for production, incentives for nuclear power. 
We have not had a nuclear powerplant built in America since 1978. It is 
our cleanest source of energy and it is energy that has the capacity to 
meet our needs. I am very hopeful we will pass this bill and we will 
work to fix some of the things not fixed in the bill.
  I am hopeful also that we will pass Medicare prescription drug 
benefits. That is a bill in progress. We are going to have an 
incredible ending to this legislative session if we are able to work 
those bills out and pass them, including the jobs created in the Energy 
bill and to begin the process of providing our seniors a prescription 
drug benefit.
  I see the Senator from the State of Oregon is on the Senate floor, 
and I yield to him up to 8 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. SMITH. I thank the Senator from Texas for yielding to me.

                          ____________________