[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5033]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS BILL

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I appreciate the good work, the exemplary 
work done on the Energy and Water appropriations bill by Senators 
Feinstein and Alexander. I managed that legislation for many years. 
Most of the time, it was with Pete Domenici from New Mexico. I was the 
chair most of the time but not all of the time. But it didn't matter--
our job was to move the bill forward.
  What people don't realize about this most important bill is that most 
of the funding is not for energy and water as we look at it, it is 
defense related--making sure our nuclear weapons are safe and reliable 
and things of that nature, making sure our National Labs are funded. So 
I appreciate their good work. It has been very good. I appreciate it.
  Last night the Republican leader filed cloture. Cloture was filed not 
because of any problems on our side. We should finish the work on the 
bill tomorrow or maybe Thursday. But I am glad we are going to get it 
done. It is an extremely important piece of legislation. I am glad we 
started here. I am glad to hear my friend the Republican leader talk 
about the appropriations process moving forward. But we have to 
understand that we have a lot more bills to go. This is only one--one 
out of many, one out of a dozen.

                          ____________________