[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 643-644]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    ENERGY POLICY MODERNIZATION BILL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, making America's clean energy future 
sustainable for our children and grandchildren has long been a priority 
for Senate Democrats.
  Today the Senate will begin consideration of a bipartisan bill that 
makes progress doable on this important goal. We have long sought to 
pass a number of priorities included in this bill. Through the stimulus 
package, we made one of the largest investments in clean energy in the 
entire history of the country. In fact, let me just say it this way: It 
is the largest investment in the history of the country in clean air 
energy.
  When Democrats were in the majority, we fought valiantly to pass a 
bipartisan piece of legislation called Shaheen-Portman. It was an 
innovative efficiency bill that would have reduced carbon emissions, 
would have saved families and businesses huge amounts of money, and 
supported 200,000 jobs in America.
  We tried to get this done. The Senator from Ohio came to me and said: 
We need to get this done. I said: I agree with you; so what do you 
need? He told me what he needed, and we agreed to that. But I am sorry 
to report that on at least two separate occasions, my Republican 
friends chose obstruction that prevented the Senate from passing this 
bipartisan piece of legislation. Then, even the Republican sponsor of 
the bill wouldn't vote for it--his own bill. He voted against it.
  Today we have another opportunity. This is the third or fourth time 
that we are moving to this. I hope we can get this done. I think there 
is no reason we shouldn't be able to, because we are a responsible 
minority. We want to get things done. We want to pass legislation. We 
don't want to obstruct everything.
  Senators Murkowski and Cantwell have worked very hard to pass this 
bill called the Energy Policy Modernization Act. They did it through 
the committee they are responsible for leading. I commend both Senators 
for their sound leadership.
  I am also happy--and I will just mention a few other things that this 
legislation addresses. Part of it includes permanent authorization of 
the Land and Water Conservation Fund. We did some very good things in 
the omnibus that we passed to take care of the Land

[[Page 644]]

and Water Conservation Fund. We funded it for 3 years, and that is more 
than we have done in a long time. But my Republican colleagues allowed 
the authorization legislation to expire last year for 3 months before 
we were able to finally renew it. So I hope we can pass this part of 
the bill untouched.
  Most of the key provisions included in the Shaheen-Portman energy 
efficiency bill are in this bill. That is really important. There is 
$40 billion in energy authorizations, including for basic research, 
home energy efficiency, and clean vehicles. Those are just a few of the 
items. Through these provisions, this legislation will save consumers 
as much as $60 billion. And not only that, it reduces a significant 
amount of carbon pollution generated by dirty fossil energy sources.
  It is estimated that passing the Energy Policy Modernization Act 
would reduce carbon emissions equal to taking every car and truck in 
the United States off the road for a year. That is a pretty big deal. 
Over the next 15 years, the energy sector will need to replace 2 
million workers and hire an additional 1.5 million for new jobs. That 
is what this legislation will allow. This bill makes progress toward 
training a skilled workforce fully equipped to take advantage of high-
paying job opportunities in the energy sector.
  The Senate works best when Democrats and Republicans, the majority 
and the minority, work together on behalf of the American people. As 
written, the Murkowski-Cantwell energy bill could win bipartisan 
approval on the Senate floor, and we can do it right now.
  As with all legislation, there is no question that the energy bill 
could be improved, and there will be efforts made to do that. I 
certainly solicit amendments, as did the Republican leader, but get 
them over here. It is my understanding the majority leader is now 
promising to allow amendments. That is what the Republican leader said 
a few minutes ago, and I am sure that is appropriate. Members of my 
caucus welcome opportunities to help strengthen the bill. However, we 
can't allow extreme Republican ideological amendments to poison this 
opportunity. The Murkowski-Cantwell energy bill must remain a 
bipartisan piece of legislation.
  Clean energy, infrastructure, and conservation are priorities of the 
middle class and all Americans. So I urge my Republican colleagues to 
recognize the good work of Senators Murkowski and Cantwell and work 
with Democrats to pass this bipartisan legislation.

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