Press Conference Re: Exclusion of Democrats from Energy Bill Conference

Federal News Service

HEADLINE: PRESS CONFERENCE RE: EXCLUSION OF DEMOCRATS FROM ENERGY BILL CONFERENCE
 
PARTICIPANTS: SENATOR BYRON DORGAN (D-ND); SENATOR JEFF BINGAMAN (D-NM); SENATOR RON WYDEN (D-OR); AND REPRESENTATIVE EDWARD MARKEY (D-MA)
 
LOCATION: SENATE RADIO/TV GALLERY, THE CAPITOL BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.

BODY:
SEN. WYDEN: Thank you, Senator Dorgan. And Senator Dorgan and Senator Bingaman -- of course, our good friend Ed Markey, have been making the case for days that to me, what this comes down to is this energy conference is deciding the critical issues under what amounts to an information blackout. And as you look at this debate, it's not just members of Congress that are being kept in the dark, it's the American people, as well. And that is, in my view, because a lot of what seems to be getting in this bill just doesn't pass the smell test with respect to the key concerns of the American people.

For example, as far as I can tell, there is essentially no consumer protection whatsoever with respect to this legislation. At a time when gasoline prices have soared in many part of the country, natural gas prices have soared, the American people want to see the government on their side. Now, we don't know many of the details. But I can tell you what I have seen to date indicates that there is little, if any, consumer protection.

Second, it seems to me an energy conference has got to consist of something more than a fossil fuel wish list.

I'm supportive of the effort to make responsible changes in this area, but we have got to move to shake free of our dependence on fossil fuels and, of course, foreign oil. And again this is an area where we have gotten few, if any, details, and certainly what we have gotten is reason for the American people to be concerned.

A third area that I'm very troubled about is the fact that on environmental questions, essentially these are getting lip service, at best. And in fact, if you look at what is coming out of the administration now, essentially environmental protection just all sort of blurs into energy production. And anybody, for example, who raises the issue of climate change, for example, is accused of harming our economy and harming the effort to make us energy independent. And so I think there is significant reason for the American people to be concerned that environmental protection is being shortchanged in the debate.

People ask us constantly what we're going to do procedurally to deal with this. As Senator Bingaman mentioned, we don't have very many of the details, and suffice it to say we don't have enough details today to be able to stake out a position to inform our constituents. My hope is that those who are running this conference -- because we are acutely aware that they have the votes, they have the votes to essentially do whatever they want. They can pass whatever kind of bill they want and they can get it signed, and it can be the most bizarre hodge-podge of goodies for these powerful interests imaginable and they could get it signed. That is not a good way to make energy policy and, by the way, it's not a good way to get it implemented after you get a bill written.

So it is our hope that we will go back to the kind of initiatives that Senator Dorgan and Senator Bingaman have mentioned, that have been bipartisan. And there are areas where this can be done literally looking at regional concerns, whether it's electricity, to national concerns like natural gas. But I can tell you, keeping American people in the dark, which is what has happened throughout this conference, is not the way to deal with an issue that arguably represents the most significant patriotism this country can produce, and that is a fresh energy policy.

Senator Dorgan and Senator Bingaman, I thank you for all you're doing. And to my friend Ed Markey, who has led this cause in the House for so many years, we're just glad to have you, Ed.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
SEN. WYDEN: Let me just add on an earlier question. What we hope to do and why we wanted to discuss what's happened so far is to see if we can bring an about-face in this kind of process, that those who are going to write -- write the bill are going to see that this might produce some short-term, you know, benefit -- they may be able to just force their will -- but that this is not a good way to proceed when the American people will see that they are out of step on so many of the key kinds of questions.

We know where the votes are. And so, when you ask what is it we hope to accomplish, we hope that as people get, for example, the news that there is absolutely no consumer protection in this bill whatsoever, we're hoping that this will require that they come back to us and say, Let's now talk about an area where Democrats and Republicans can find common ground, and let's try to come up with some consumer protection provisions in this legislation that could pass the Senate 70-30. That's the kind of bill we want. We don't go into this saying, Let's spend our time trying to figure out how to not produce a bill. We're trying to figure out a way to go back to the kind of approach Jeff Bingaman has used for years when he has been our leader on the Energy Committee, which is to try to find a way to get two- thirds of the senators or thereabouts to rally behind an approach, and that hasn't been done here.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Q Senator Dorgan, you said you don't want to speculate on how you or your colleagues would vote on a hypothetical list of provisions of an energy bill. So what, precisely, do you mean, then, when you say that the processes used by Senator Domenici and Mr. Tauzin threaten or undermine the ability to have an energy bill? Are you holding out a threat of a filibuster?

SEN. DORGAN: Well I'll let my colleagues speak for themselves on this as well. The purpose of this is not to threaten anyone; the purpose of this is to say the way to get an energy bill signed into law is to include Republicans and Democrats in the process, to have conference committees at which conferees are invited and to be able to solicit the best of the ideas that are available in both caucuses in the House and the Senate. That has not been the case, and my point is that the risk of not being able to get a satisfactory bill to the House or the Senate comes from the process that's been developed. There's still time for an about-face. There's still time to construct this in the way conferees are supposed to work in a conference committee.

You might want to comment on that.

SEN. WYDEN: No, I think Senator Dorgan said it -- said it very well. I mean, everybody knows a senator carries around what amounts to a procedural nuclear weapon in terms of the filibuster. Nobody on our side wants it to come to that. As Senator Dorgan has said repeatedly, we want to meet our colleagues halfway. We want to find common ground. We have done that repeatedly in the past. Senator Dorgan's hydrogen legislation, a perfect example.

So it's our hope that right now, when there still is time, that our colleagues will see that history shows this is not a good way to write a bill, number one, and it will be very hard to implement if you don't figure out a way to find some common ground and to do it in a bipartisan way.