[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4753-4754]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    ENERGY POLICY MODERNIZATION BILL

  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for their support 
of the Energy Policy Modernization Act. I think the vote we have just 
concluded is indicative of what I have been saying for years now. I 
have a relatively lengthy policy manual or handbook, if you will, of 
how I view the energy space and how we can work to advance our energy 
policies, but, as with so much nowadays, if you put down a 115-page 
book or if you have a multipage white paper, it kind of goes by the 
way. So I have framed my energy policy into three simple words. I don't 
have it on a chart this afternoon, but it is basically pretty simple: 
``Energy is good.'' I think that is what we have concluded with passage 
of the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016, with 85 Members 
supporting us in this effort.
  I thank my ranking member, Senator Cantwell, for working with me 
throughout this very collaborative process. The way we built this bill 
was not just the two of us as colleagues on the Energy Committee but 
working with Members on the committee across the aisle, working with 
other Members of this body in a very open and transparent manner. And 
it was not just colleagues here within the Senate; it was the outreach 
we did with numerous listening sessions and the administration. I thank 
Secretary of Energy Moniz for his assistance in what we built. What we 
have in front of us and what we are recognizing today is truly a 
strong, committed process that yielded a strong product.
  I wish to acknowledge the very, very hard work of our staffs. We all 
know we cannot do what we need to do as Senators without good people 
backing us at every turn. I am extraordinarily fortunate as chairman of 
the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to have a team on the 
majority's side that is not only extraordinarily hard-working, but they 
are all amazing experts when it comes to the energy space.
  I wish to particularly recognize my staff director, Colin Hayes. 
Colin came into this Energy bill midway. He came on as my staff 
director at the first of the year after my previous staff director, 
Karen Billups, who had served on the Energy Committee for close to 25 
years, retires. So we had that experience and expertise leaving--and 
Karen worked so hard to help craft so much of

[[Page 4754]]

this bill, but then we needed the technician to move it through this 
process, and Colin Hayes stepped up in an extraordinary and remarkable 
way, and I thank him for all he did to guide us here.
  I wish to recognize the others on my Energy Committee staff: Pat 
McCormick, Brian Hughes, Kellie Donnelly, and Lucy Murfitt.
  I want to give a special shout-out to Lucy because she was able to 
help navigate some of the issues that perhaps were not seen upfront and 
in person, but behind the scenes were very important, not the least of 
which was the amendment we took a voice vote on yesterday relating to 
the wild horses in North Carolina. Managing interesting issues and 
doing it deftly was Lucy's strong suit.
  I thank Severin Randall. I also thank Annie Hoefler, who made sure 
anything I needed in my book was there, Michael Tadeo, Tristan Abbey, 
Chester Carson, Isaac Edwards, Heidi Hansen, Chris Kearney, Chuck 
Kleeschulte, Kip Knudson, Brianne Miller, Jason Huffnagle, Ben Reinke, 
Krystal Edens, Melissa Enriquez, Deanna Mitchell, and Karen Dildei. 
They are all members of our team on the Republican side who have been 
working day and night for weeks and months now.
  But we can't work a bill as successfully as we have today without 
working hand-in-glove with your counterparts on the other side. Just as 
Senator Cantwell and I worked together, our staffs worked together, and 
they were led very ably by Angela Becker-Dippmann. Angela came to the 
committee after being pulled out of another place at the request of 
Senator Cantwell, and her guidance has been extraordinary. I greatly 
appreciate her work.
  I wish to recognize the other members of the minority Energy 
Committee staff as well. Sam Fowler has been around since time 
immemorial guiding us. I thank Rebecca Bonner, David Brooks, John 
Davis, Benjamin Drake, David Gillers, Rich Glick, Spencer Gray, Sa'Rah 
Hamm, Aisha Johnson, Faye Matthews, Scott McKee, Casey Neal, Bryan 
Petit, David Poyer, Betsy Rosenblatt, Samantha Siegler, Bradley 
Sinkaus, Carolyn Sloan, Rory Stanley, Melanie Stansbury, Al Stayman, 
Nick Sutter, Stephanie Teich-McGoldrick, and Brie Van Cleve.
  This is kind of a list of Emmy Award winners in my book. But as good 
as our teams are, we need help here on the floor. The folks on the 
floor staff have been fabulous and extraordinary, and we thank them for 
their efforts. Laura Dove and Gary, thank you for what you have done. 
The other members of the Republican floor staff--Robert Duncan, Chris 
Tuck, Mary Elizabeth Taylor, Megan Mercer, Katherine Kilroy, Tony 
Hanagan, and Mike Smith--are great people to work with, and we 
appreciate their guidance.
  We had good, strong support from the leader's office. Neil Chatterjee 
was a kind of energy whisperer for many of us and was a great help, as 
well as Kate Sterne and Monica Popp with Senator Cornyn's office, Eric 
Ueland and Becky Cole on the Budget Committee, Heather Burnham and 
Christina Jacquet at Senate Legislative Counsel, and Megan Carroll and 
Kathy Gramp at the Congressional Budget Office.
  I am proud of the work so many have done in getting us here. We are 
looking forward to sitting down with our counterparts on the House side 
and getting to work to make sure the benefits we have achieved today in 
the Senate are replicated with our colleagues in the House so that we 
can see passage of an energy bill by both bodies and signed into law by 
the President.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask consent that I be permitted to 
make some remarks followed by the Senator from California, after which 
the Senate would go back into a quorum call.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator 
Feinstein and I be allowed to speak, me first and Senator Feinstein 
second.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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