[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16570-16573]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 WARM IN WINTER AND COOL IN SUMMER ACT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will 
report the motion to invoke cloture----
  The Republican leader is recognized.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I know everybody is anxious to leave. 
Very briefly, voting for cloture on this bill will take us off of the 
single most important issue in America.
  The American people are clamoring for legislation that brings down 
gas prices, and our leadership friends on the other side want to 
dismiss this issue instead of taking it head on with bold action.
  We want to address the issue of gas prices, and the important thing 
is to stay on the subject. I strongly urge a ``no'' vote on this 
motion.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Republicans had every opportunity, for 
more than a month now, to talk about energy and to vote on energy. They 
turned that down. On speculation, they had an opportunity to do that. 
Even though it was part of their proposal, they dropped it. They had an 
opportunity to vote on drilling. They dropped that. They had an 
opportunity to vote on oil shale exploration. They would not do that. 
They said nuclear power was an immediate need of the American people. 
They would not vote on that.
  Now my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are being--it is 
being recommended by their leader to vote against LIHEAP. This issue is 
important to old people, disabled people, and poor people. There are 12 
or 13 Republican sponsors of the legislation. So I say to my friends on 
the other side of the aisle, go ahead and vote against your best 
interests, I guess.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader is recognized.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, of course, none of what the majority 
leader listed has been offered. Not a single consent to allow any of 
those votes has been offered. That is the point of this vote.
  In order to deal with energy--the No. 1 issue in America--we need to 
have an open process, such as on the Energy bills of 2007 and 2005, 
where all of the amendments relative and important to this issue have a 
chance to be considered here in the Senate. None of that has been 
offered.
  The only way it will be offered is to vote ``no'' on getting off this 
subject and staying on the No. 1 subject in America, open up the 
process, and allow amendments on all of the issues the majority leader 
referred to and move forward. That is the way we legislate in the 
Senate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, my friend, the Republican leader, has said 
something that is not true. On this floor, on numerous occasions, and 
in public meetings on numerous occasions in the past 10 days, I have 
said we are willing to vote on drilling, we are willing to vote on oil 
shale, and we are willing to vote on nuclear power. In their package, 
that is one of their seven amendments, which starts on the road to 28

[[Page 16571]]

amendments. We said we are willing to vote on that. Now everybody over 
there, all 48 of them--or however many there are--should understand you 
have had the opportunity to vote on those amendments. I have offered it 
on many occasions, many occasions. So any conversation to the contrary 
simply is without any factual foundation. The record is replete with 
what I have said.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader is recognized.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, everybody wishes to vote. The majority 
leader and I have a central disagreement here as to what has been said 
on the floor of the Senate. We will still be on this bill next week. It 
will be an opportunity to continue the conversation and, hopefully, get 
the kind of process that will allow all Senators to participate on the 
No. 1 issue in America.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Republican minority is being misled on 
this issue. We have had opportunities to vote on every one of your 
amendments, every one of them. They have been stalling for months on 
lots of things but in the last two weeks on energy.
  Everyone should understand, if you want to vote on drilling, we 
offered that to you on numerous occasions. Oil shale--we offered that 
on many occasions. The same on nuclear power. This is an opportunity--
and American people should understand this--to avoid legislating. It 
has even gotten so directed that they are going to take out their 
frustration on what is going on in the country today--mainly that the 
status quo is not something that the American people want anymore. They 
are going to take it out on old people, disabled people, and poor 
people. That is what this LIHEAP vote is all about.
  Folks, go ahead and vote against LIHEAP. We are going to vote for it.
  Mr. McCONNELL addressed the Chair.
  Mr. REID. Another thing, Mr. President, I am going to get the last 
word, so we can keep going all day.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I renew the unanimous consent that I 
offered several days ago that allowed us to begin the process of 
amendments and listed the first seven amendments that would be offered 
on my side.
  To refresh everyone's memory, the unanimous consent agreement I 
proffered would have allowed us to go forward and rotate from side to 
side, as we have done in the past on major legislation of this type, 
with one amendment on each side. I listed the first seven amendments 
that would be offered on our side, and it was objected to.
  Mr. President, I renew that unanimous consent request.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, the American 
people have seen here, in the last few minutes, what is going on in the 
country today. No one denies that their big panacea to all of the 
problems of gas prices--what they have said was the silver bullet--is 
voting on drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf, letting the 
Governors decide where they want to drill. We said you can vote on 
that. They don't want to vote on that. It is the same on oil shale and 
nuclear.
  This is a big stall. They have been stalling for 18 months. That is 
why we have had to file almost 90 cloture motions, because of 
filibusters they have conducted.
  The final answer to all this stalling is going to come on November 4, 
because the American people are going to make sure that next year there 
are not going to be 49 Republicans over there.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion to invoke 
cloture.
  Mr. COBURN. Reserving the right to object, was there a formal 
objection, Mr. President?
  Mr. REID. Yes, I objected.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
 Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, the Senate has been in session all 
week and held one vote Tuesday and two votes this morning--all 
procedural votes. We have considered a bill this week concerning the 
number one issue in America today--the price of energy. Instead, of 
allowing a full debate on the bill and, most importantly, a full 
opportunity to allow amendments to actually open up supplies and 
provide Americans with options, the Democratic majority has closed 
debate and prohibited any opportunity to amend the bill.
  Now, the Senate Democratic majority, after wasting an entire week, is 
engaged in a stunt to keep the Senate in session this weekend in some 
false demonstration they are serious about now addressing the issues 
that concern Americans trying to proceed to legislation to add $1.2 
billion for the LIHEAP program. LIHEAP is a federally funded grant 
program that is implemented by states to give low income people funds 
to pay home energy bills. Generally, the primary beneficiaries of 
LIHEAP are users of natural gas, heating oil, and propane, and most of 
the assistance is confined to the NE United States.
  Instead of simply placing more funding into a grant program, we 
should have used this past week to address increasing energy supplies 
to meet our long term national energy demands. I have previously 
opposed simply providing more funding for a grant program which does 
not address our energy needs, and will not attend the vote tomorrow 
since I would vote ``no'' so I request this statement appear in the 
Record, prior to the cloture vote on the motion to proceed.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I am voting against cloture on the LIHEAP 
bill because the invocation of cloture would displace the bill on oil 
speculators. I strongly believe the Senate should stay on the oil 
speculators bill because of the critical importance of that bill in 
light of the enormously high price of oil and gas at the pump.
  During my tenure in the Senate, no one has been more supportive of 
LIHEAP than I. I have consistently taken the lead as chairman of the 
LHHS Subcommittee to increase Federal funding for LIHEAP. The Senate 
will have an opportunity to act on the Sanders bill in this session to 
increase LIHEAP.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, by now, all Americans are well aware of the 
record-high gas prices that have reverberated through our economy, 
hitting pocketbooks and inflating the price of everything from food to 
manufactured goods. An issue that receives far less attention, however, 
is the ever-increasing price of utilities for home heating and cooling. 
During the next 2 years alone, the Energy Information Administration, 
EIA, estimates that utility costs will increase substantially. In 2008 
and 2009, average residential electricity prices are projected to 
increase by 5.2 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively, while natural 
gas will increase by 16 percent and 34 percent. Home heating oil is 
projected to soar by an astounding 63 percent in 2009 alone.
  During these difficult economic times, no one has been more adversely 
affected by high energy prices than low-income households and the 
unemployed, who have been hit with the double whammy of paying for 
skyrocketing gas prices and increased home heating and cooling bills at 
the same time. Since President Bush took office, the average price of a 
gallon of gasoline has nearly tripled, and residential energy prices 
have shot upward by astounding amounts, financially crippling lower 
income households, forcing many of them to choose whether to pay for 
essential food and medicine, or to keep the heat on during the dead of 
winter. In my home State of Michigan, my constituents are worried about 
how they will pay for natural gas, home heating oil and propane for the 
upcoming winter.
  That is why increased funding for the Low-Income Home Energy 
Assistance Program, LIHEAP, is critical. LIHEAP was created in 1981 to 
help low-income families, elderly individuals on a fixed income and the 
unemployed pay their energy bills. Even before recent and projected 
increases in energy prices, my home State of Michigan--like other 
States--started off with less funding in this fiscal year than was 
required to meet the need. There have been significant efforts over the 
last couple of years to provide full funding for the LIHEAP program--
consistent with that authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005--but 
these efforts have been

[[Page 16572]]

thwarted by an administration unwilling to support this program at the 
necessary level.
  The bill before the Senate--the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer 
Act, S. 3186--would significantly strengthen LIHEAP. These additional 
emergency funds would go a long way toward providing households with 
the necessary assistance in dealing with soaring energy costs. I am an 
original cosponsor of this critical legislation, and I am pleased to 
support it. I look forward to its swift enactment into law.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I rise in support of S. 3186, the Warm in 
Winter and Cool in Summer Act. As an original cosponsor of this 
important legislation that nearly doubles funding for the Low-Income 
Home Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP, I urge my colleagues to support 
the motion to invoke cloture.
  While we are currently in the middle of summer, every Vermonter knows 
that winter isn't far off. Families in cold-weather States, like 
Vermont, who were able to pay this past winter's bill, are already 
preparing for next winter and they are finding the costs of home 
heating to be out of reach.
  In its most recent ``Short-Term Energy Outlook,'' the Department of 
Energy predicted that the cost of home heating oil will increase more 
than 41 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter 
of 2008. This increase comes on top of the 162-percent increase in 
heating oil prices that has occurred since President Bush took office.
  Many of our neediest neighbors will need Federal and State assistance 
in order to fill their fuel tanks. There is currently $120 million in 
LIHEAP emergency funds that Congress has appropriated and the President 
could release tomorrow. Unfortunately, so far he has refused to do so.
  I have passed an amendment that would require the President to 
release the $120 million in emergency LIHEAP funding. Yet clearly more 
funding is needed.
  The skyrocketing price of home heating oil, propane, kerosene, 
natural gas and electricity is stretching the household budgets of 
millions of families with children, senior citizens on fixed incomes 
and persons with disabilities beyond the breaking point.
  More LIHEAP assistance is urgently needed. This legislation will 
provide an additional $2.5 billion for LIHEAP. With the current oil 
prices, the average LIHEAP grant only pays for 18 percent of the total 
cost of heating a home with heating oil in the winter; 21 percent of 
residential propane costs; 41 percent of natural gas costs; and 43 
percent of electricity costs.
  This legislation is a moral imperative. People without adequate heat 
are vulnerable to illness. And people struggling to pay the heating 
bills may be tempted to skimp on medicines and even food. No one should 
have to choose between heating and eating.
  I hope my colleagues in the Senate will join us in supporting this 
bill immediately and the President will sign it as soon as possible.


                             Cloture Motion

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, and pursuant to rule 
XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion, 
which the clerk will state.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     proceed to Calendar No. 835, S. 3186, a bill to provide for 
     the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
         Harry Reid, Bernard Sanders, Barbara A. Mikulski, Charles 
           E. Schumer, Christopher J. Dodd, Debbie Stabenow, Maria 
           Cantwell, Byron L. Dorgan, Richard Durbin, Patrick J. 
           Leahy, Patty Murray, John F. Kerry, Kent Conrad, 
           Benjamin L. Cardin, Jack Reed, Jon Tester, Thomas R. 
           Carper, Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum 
call has been waived.
  The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the 
motion to proceed to S. 3186, a bill to provide funding for the Low-
Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and for other purposes, shall be 
brought to a close?
  The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Iowa (Mr. Harkin), the 
Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Kennedy), the Senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray), and the Senator 
from Illinois (Mr. Obama) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from Colorado (Mr. Allard), the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Bond), the 
Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Bunning), the Senator from North Carolina 
(Mr. Burr), the Senator from North Carolina (Mrs. Dole), the Senator 
from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. 
Inhofe), the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Isakson), the Senator from 
Arizona (Mr. McCain), and the Senator from Virginia (Mr. Warner).
  Further, if present and voting the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. 
Bunning) would have voted ``nay.''
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 50, nays 35, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 187 Leg.]

                                YEAS--50

     Akaka
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Boxer
     Brown
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Clinton
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Dodd
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Johnson
     Kerry
     Klobuchar
     Kohl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     McCaskill
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Pryor
     Reed
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Sanders
     Schumer
     Smith
     Snowe
     Stabenow
     Sununu
     Tester
     Webb
     Whitehouse
     Wyden

                                NAYS--35

     Alexander
     Barrasso
     Bennett
     Brownback
     Chambliss
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Corker
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     DeMint
     Domenici
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Kyl
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McConnell
     Murkowski
     Reid
     Roberts
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Specter
     Stevens
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Wicker

                             NOT VOTING--15

     Allard
     Bond
     Bunning
     Burr
     Dole
     Graham
     Harkin
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Kennedy
     McCain
     Murray
     Obama
     Warner
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 
35. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted 
in the affirmative, the motion is rejected.
  The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider the vote by 
which the motion to invoke cloture was not invoked on the motion to 
proceed to S. 3186.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is entered.
  Mr. REID. I now withdraw the motion to proceed to S. 3186.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is withdrawn.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, the Senate has voted on a motion to proceed 
to a vote on S. 3186, a bill to provide funding for the Low-Income Home 
Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. I have a long history of 
supporting the LIHEAP program and have voted for almost every increase 
in the program that has been proposed in Congress.
  This vote was different. It was not a vote about making sure our low 
income citizens have the heating and cooling assistance they need 
because they already do under the existing program. There is $100 
million still left in the program, and most of that money was for 
heating last winter. So what's the emergency here? On top of the 
existing surplus in the program, the program will also be fully funded 
for the coming winter when we pass a continuing resolution which will 
keep all the government programs running at the level they were funded 
last year. So let's not pretend that LIHEAP is not in place or that it 
won't be funded for the coming year.

[[Page 16573]]

  Each year the Congress appropriates the Government funding needs 
through 13 appropriations bills. Each bill is handled by separate 
subcommittees of the full Senate Committee on Appropriations. I applaud 
the Appropriations Committee and its subcommittees, because they have 
done a good job of preparing and marking up their various 
appropriations bills.
  But there's just one problem. Our majority leader has announced that 
we will not be passing any of those bills this year, and instead will 
be passing the continuing resolution I just referred to. Why this 
announcement? Why can't we pass any appropriations bills this year? 
Well, I can tell you Mr. President that the Republicans have many 
amendments prepared for those bills that would allow our Nation to 
produce more domestic oil, but the anti-oil extremists calling the 
shots in the Democrat Party cannot allow votes on finding more oil 
because they know such votes would succeed.
  Unfortunately for the Democrat Party, the poor are beginning to wake 
up that the liberals they have always looked to are behind the war on 
the poor. By war on the poor I refer to the movement by the anti-oil 
extremists to close off every good domestic oil resource, which is a 
direct cause of the high energy prices Americans face.
  Democrats in Congress have been forced to choose between the very 
well funded extreme anti-oil interests and the poor because on energy 
prices there is no compromise between the two. The Democrats have begun 
to recognize the position they are in, and were trying to have it both 
ways with this vote.
  Let's be honest about why the Senate brought up this amendment. It is 
because the Democrats are trying to please the anti-oil extremists by 
not allowing any votes on oil drilling or on appropriations bills. At 
the same time the Democrats must pretend that they haven't really sold 
out the poor by their policies that force high gas prices.
  I am not inclined to play their political game and support their 
effort to shift the debate away from unlocking our nation's energy 
potential. And I particularly was not inclined to support this vote, 
because the proposal busted the budget without providing any additional 
benefit to LIHEAP.

                          ____________________