[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4571]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              ENERGY BILL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I appreciate the Republican leader talking 
positively about the Energy bill, which we called the energy efficiency 
bill in the last two Congresses, when we tried so hard under the 
direction of Senator Shaheen from New Hampshire to get this done. We 
tried so very hard. We had many runs at it. There were promises from 
the Republicans; I don't need to mention names, but they know who they 
are: Let's get back on this bill. We will get it done. We have only 
three amendments. We have only two amendments. We did that time after 
time over 4 years. Every time, the obstruction would not go away, and 
we could not do the bill.
  I am grateful that we have a bill now dealing with energy efficiency. 
The name has been changed, but it is the same bill. I hope that Senator 
Shaheen from New Hampshire has some degree of pride over what she 
started a long time ago. Her name is not on the legislation anymore, 
and I appreciate the junior Senator from Washington and the senior 
Senator from Alaska working hard to bring it to the floor today. We 
brought it to the point where we are today as a result of a very long 
struggle.
  The Republican leader talks about the many years since we have had an 
Energy bill. The reason we didn't have one 4 years sooner is that they 
wouldn't let us. Gridlock, obstruction--the Republicans blocked Energy 
bills any chance they got. They insisted on offering amendments that 
weren't germane or relevant.
  We are not acting the way they did. We want to get it done also. It 
is important for our country, and it is a positive step forward. I want 
to make sure there is a full understanding of the history behind this.

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