Press Conference with Senator John Ensign (R-NV); Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA); Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND); Senator Jonh Sununu (R-NH) - Energy Legislation
Statement
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SEN. CANTWELL: Thank you.
I want to thank my colleagues for being here -- Senator Sununu and Senator Dorgan, and certainly Senator Ensign, for this bipartisan effort to save green energy jobs in 2008. That's why we're here. We're trying to save green energy jobs in 2008.
We don't have a lot of time. Companies are starting, as they end their first quarter, to give guidance to their investors about whether they're going to keep projects on the books. We have talked about projects that -- anywhere from investments in solar, in Montana, that could get canceled, to projects in California, to my home state, to many other places.
We want, in a bipartisan effort, to save green-collar jobs in 2008. So we're going to take this effort to encourage our colleagues in the House of Representatives that this is a four-fold return on investment. That is, that it is stimulus; it creates jobs; it reduces energy rates for consumers by giving them tax breaks for energy efficiency; and it reduces CO2.
This is a unique opportunity to pass this stimulation for our economy. I know people probably think that there will be this pay-go debate. I'm sure there will be. But the House of Representatives sent us a package -- and I'm not saying that it's challenging, or that it wasn't a significant package -- it received good bipartisan support here in the United States Senate. But the hardest thing to do -- in business or in government, is to spend the money wisely. And this is a wise investment, I would say, that will show stimulative results, in this 2008 year, on investment, and job creation, and actually preventing job loss.
So it's a hard thing to spend this kind of money and actually show the investment and return. I would say this is one of the best things that we're going to do all year, in showing a rate of return for the people of this country -- not just for 2008, but the additional supply that will help our economy continue to grow.
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Q Have any of you -- the Democrats had conversations with Speaker Pelosi, or any of the leadership over in the House, to try to figure out just how you're going to keep this in the bill because, as you've expressed, that you have some concerns about it, and how it's going to be funded?
SEN. CANTWELL: I've talked to some of my colleagues from Washington state. I'm not talking -- talked to Speaker Pelosi, but I have heard she's interested in a second stimulus bill. Well, that's what she's getting in this package that's coming over from the House. Both these housing provisions and energy provisions are what the Senate wanted to do in a stimulus package. So here is a great place for her to take action on stimulating our economy.
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Q Have you talked to the White House about this particular --
SEN. ENSIGN: We're having conversations already with the White House. And, to make sure -- we wanted to get this vote, but we've already had the preliminary discussions with the White House.
Q If the housing bill is stalled, the talks continue with the House for some time, would you try to put these renewable credits in the taxes-centered bill that Senator Baucus is talking about doing towards the recess?
SEN. CANTWELL: I'm happy to talk about any vehicle that's going to move quickly. This notion that the first quarter has ended, that people are going to start giving guidance to their investors. That means they have to be honest with them. If they don't see movement, they're going to cancel these projects. So, I think we have a few more weeks before these projects are going to get cancelled.
So, to me, let's get something -- if we can get a signal out of the White House of their support; if we can show that there are the votes in the House of Representatives, then whatever way we can get it done, let's get it passed and onto the president's desk.
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Q Senator Cantwell, are you planning to take the lead, as far as talking to House Democrats? Is Senator Reid going to get involved, as far as talking to --
SEN. CANTWELL: Senator Reid is going to be involved, but we're going to make it an all-out effort in encouraging our colleagues to talk to their counterparts, and to, obviously, try to find a path forward that will allow this bill to move quickly.
I hope that my colleagues -- I think, my colleagues here, I know Senator Dorgan does -- he gave a great speech yesterday. I know Senator Ensign feels this way too. There is a larger energy discussion to be had. (Laughs.) We haven't finished our job just because we've pushed this bill out the door. And in December of this year, we're going to be in the same situation again, where we will be allowing tax credits to lag if we don't pass more legislation.
So, I would encourage all of our House colleagues to understand that this is work we should have done last year, to get it done now, and then you can have all the discussion you want, in May and June and July on the larger energy package we also should be pushing, so that the United States really can come -- become leaders in energy renewables.
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Q Let's be clear, as you look toward a conference on this measure, are you exploring pay-fors or offsets, when you sit down with the House, so you will have those to discuss? As I understand it, there's concern that this provision might be taken out in conference if the pay-fors aren't identified?
SEN. ENSIGN: Well, I'm not sure that it's going to go to conference. I don't think that that's been decided. You know, we've seen around here -- talked about the ag bill, talk about a lot of different bills, when some things go to conference not only do they take forever, sometimes they never come out of conference.
And I don't think that that's been decided yet, at the leadership level, whether it's going to go conference or not, or whether it's just going to ping-pong back and forth between the House and the Senate. It would be my preference that it ping-pong back and forth, because you can -- once you go to conference you can get bogged down in a lot of different things, to where the -- that, really, the clock would run out on renewable energies in this country. And that -- and that really would be a travesty.
SEN. CANTWELL: I think the vote speaks for itself. Eighty-eight votes show that the path forward here, to get this done, is to do as the Senate did and pass this year's extension so that we have legislation. And then spend the rest of the time making sure that we continue to look at these energy issues moving forward.
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