Energy

Floor Speech

ENERGY -- (Senate - July 26, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THUNE. The Senator has correctly identified the problem. We use too much energy, and we don't produce enough. The solution to that problem is to find more and use less. That is exactly what we want to be discussing in the Senate, how do we increase supply and reduce demand in a way that will help lower fuel prices for Americans who are feeling the brunt of rising gasoline prices and rising oil prices.

As the Senator from Tennessee noted, we have had great success in my State with biofuels. We are going to eclipse the 1 billion gallon mark this year in terms of ethanol production. If you couple that with next generation biofuels, cellulosic ethanol, there is enormous promise and potential for us to lessen our dangerous dependence upon foreign sources of energy by converting to biofuels. But having said that, I am for ANWR. I have voted for ANWR. I have actually been to ANWR with the Senator from Alaska. I am absolutely convinced that we ought to be accessing the incredible reserves we have there that could lessen our dependence on foreign energy.

I am for more domestic supply, whether it is oil and gas, biofuels, nuclear, coal to liquid, oil shale. There are a lot of good options, none of which we are having an opportunity to talk about in the Senate because the Democratic leader has decided that no amendments are going to be allowed.

We are stuck in the Senate on a Saturday. The American people are crying out for a solution to a big problem. Big problems require leadership. We are not providing leadership. We are not doing what the Senate should be doing, and that is working its will for the American people. The people I represent deserve a vote. They deserve a vote on energy issues that are important to South Dakota, as do the people in Alaska, Tennessee, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah, constituents of the Senators who are here in the Chamber now and want to see this issue debated. They want to see solutions. The only way we will get to a solution is by allowing an open process where we can debate finding more and using less. I am for all the things I have just mentioned.

In the energy debate we had in the summer of 2005, we actually adopted 57 amendments. We stayed on the bill for 10 days. We had a full-throated debate on energy. In 2007, we debated energy again. We adopted 49 amendments, and we spent 15 days on the floor talking about it. But we had an opportunity to discuss amendments that would do something about the energy crisis. What we have instead now is a Democratic leadership that has drawn a line in the sand and said: We will not vote on any of these things. We will not debate any of these things. You take our way or the highway.

Their way does nothing to add to our energy supply or to reduce dependence upon foreign sources. I appreciate the leadership of the Senator from Tennessee. I, along with him and my colleagues, urge the Democratic leadership to open the process and give us a fair opportunity to debate amendments and find meaningful solutions to America's serious energy problems.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. THUNE. With respect to what the Senator from Nevada said earlier today, indicating that we had an opportunity to offer amendments, that is flatly not the case. He has filled the amendment tree, which in Washington parlance means he has essentially prevented or blocked other Members from offering amendments. We are paralyzed because we can't have the debate we need to on all the amendments and solutions that Members are here to offer, all of which would add to the debate and most of which would actually address the fundamental problem the Senator from Tennessee has identified. We don't produce enough energy in this country, and we use too much. We need to find more and use less.

Source