S7418 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 11, 2007 same as the Senator who is expressed The bill we begin debate on today— amendment before any additional on page 24 of Roll Call, saying we have the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Pro- amendments are offered on this bill. to overcome the 15-vote deficit, it tection Energy Efficiency Act of 2007— I hope my colleagues will vote in won’t happen. We have about maxed takes several major steps toward re- favor of the motion to proceed. In fact, out at 80 percent. ducing our dependence on foreign oil, I hope we can proceed to the bill imme- The letter I am going to send to the promoting renewable energy that we diately and not have to use the 30 President will say a number of things. produce right here in America, and pro- hours. That will allow time for more Among other things, it will say: tecting our environment from global amendments. A strong spirit of bipartisanship has held warming. This bill is a substitute to f together the coalition of Democrats and Re- H.R. 6. This bill is a bipartisan bill. publicans who negotiated the compromise A number of my chairmen came to RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY and has sustained the Senate through 2 full me and said: We have this great legisla- LEADER weeks of debate on the bill. Unfortunately, tion in my committee; can we bring it that bipartisanship was largely absent in a The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- crucial vote last Thursday. forward? I said: No, we have to have an pore. The minority leader is recog- energy bill; our initial energy bill has nized. Then I will go on to state to the to be bipartisan. So the Energy Com- f President the percentages I just out- mittee, under the direction of Senators lined. BINGAMAN and DOMENICI, came up with IMMIGRATION I further say in the letter to the a good package. That is part of what President: Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, just we are going to be debating in the Sen- a brief word about the immigration We appreciate the efforts of you and other ate. Republicans who have worked with us to get bill. We could have been wrapping it up the bill this far. But we believe it will take Then, in the Commerce Committee, tonight. stronger leadership by you to ensure that op- Senator STEVENS and Senator INOUYE As I indicated to my good friend, the ponents of the bill do not block the path to also came up with an extremely impor- majority leader, on Thursday after- final passage. Simply put, we need many tant piece of legislation dealing with noon, I thought there was every reason more than seven Republicans to vote for clo- CAFE standards, which is making cars to believe we could have finished the ture and final passage of the bill. more efficient. That is going to be in immigration bill by tonight. Instead, This letter will be signed by Senators the bill to be brought to the floor. we ended up having another cloture REID, DURBIN, SCHUMER, and MURRAY, Senator BOXER and Senator INHOFE vote—in my view, a day or two pre- the Democratic leadership team. also worked together to come up with mature—taking Friday off, and today I want to get the bill done. The over- another piece of legislation that we spending our time on a meaningless whelming majority of the Democratic have put in this one bill. Their part of resolution giving the President advice caucus has already voted for cloture. this bill is also excellent and deals with about whom the Attorney General The American people are certainly green buildings and making the mas- ought to be. looking to Congress for leadership. We sive fleet of Federal cars more energy Having said that, I appreciate the hope President Bush and his Repub- efficient. It is a good piece of legisla- comments of the majority leader that lican allies in Congress will find a way tion, and it is a bipartisan bill. he would like to finish the immigra- There will be people wanting to put to work with us to deliver this bill to tion bill. There is a substantial number tax measures on this, but I think we the immigrants, businesses, and all of Republican Senators who believe should wait until the tax committee— other Americans who deserve it. this bill would be an improvement over If we see new cooperation and a clear Senators BAUCUS and GRASSLEY—does the current situation, over the status way forward from the Republican cau- that. This is a bill which we should try quo, and so I hope we will be able to cus, I will do everything possible to re- to protect the bipartisan aspect of. It chart a path to get us back on track at address the immigration issue after the really is quite a good bill, and if we are some point and hopefully complete, on debate on the Energy bill is completed. able to pass it, we will save 4 million a bipartisan basis, what could well be And it is difficult for me to even say barrels of oil every day. That is pretty the most important domestic achieve- this because I really wanted to move good. ment of this Congress. next to the Defense authorization bill. This bill will set new energy effi- I am pleased to hear the majority If we can work out something, when we ciency standards for lighting, appli- leader say there is a possibility that we finish this Energy bill, to complete im- ances, and water use. This bill alone could get back to this measure and migration, I want to do that. will save 1⁄2 trillion gallons of water wrap it up. That certainly is my hope, Finally, Mr. President, on energy, we every year. For a place like Nevada, and I will look forward to working with will turn our focus this week to one of where we get 4 inches of rain every him toward that end. the great remaining challenges of our year in Las Vegas, that is a lot of I yield the floor. time: our national energy policy. water. In 1931, Thomas Alva Edison had a This is a bill which protects con- f meeting with Henry Ford, whose cars sumers by punishing companies that RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME were driving up consumer demand for price gouge and manipulate supply for gasoline. This is what Edison told their profits. It is a bill which invests The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Ford: in carbon capture and storage, and it pore. Under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. I’d put my money on the sun and solar en- directs the President and his Cabinet ergy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t to improve diplomatic relations with f have to wait until oil and coal run out before our energy partners in order to give us MORNING BUSINESS we tackle that. more leverage in the global energy Here it is, 76 years later—76 years market. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- later—and we haven’t tackled our ad- Altogether, this bill will save Amer- pore. Under the previous order, there diction to oil, and it has grown into a ican consumers tens of billions of dol- will be a period for the transaction of three-pronged crisis: threatening our lars every year, cut our oil consump- morning business until 3:30 p.m., with economy, threatening our Nation’s se- tion, reduce our dependence on foreign Senators permitted to speak for up to curity, and threatening our environ- energy, and, by the way, might just 10 minutes each, with the time equally ment. save the planet while we are at it. divided and controlled between the two Today, we will use 21 million barrels It is a good, important bill, a bipar- leaders or their designees. of oil and tomorrow the same. How tisan bill, and as I have indicated, The Senator from North Dakota. much is 21 million barrels of oil? It is many of my colleagues will be tempted f a ditch 10 feet deep and 200 football to offer tax amendments. I ask that fields long or a ditch 10 feet deep and 11 they wait until the Finance Committee ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES miles long. Every day, we use that oil— has had an opportunity to make rec- Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I rise every day. ommendations on an energy tax today to discuss the issues surrounding VerDate Mar 15 2010 21:51 Mar 13, 2014 Jkt 081600 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\2007SENATE\S11JN7.REC S11JN7 mmaher on DSKCGSP4G1 with SOCIALSECURITY June 11, 2007 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7419 the removal of eight U.S. attorneys sons for their dismissal. Here we have The reasons given for their firings have not last year. Attorney General Gonzales them. been consistent with my experience. has claimed that he had no involve- David Iglesias, New Mexico—there And that: ment in the firing of the U.S. attor- was a probe of Democrats not com- I had very positive encounters with these neys. In fact, this is his statement. He pleted quickly enough. We had promi- folks. said: nent Republicans complaining that he Comey was effusive in his praise of several of the fired prosecutors. I was not involved in seeing any memos, had not reached conclusion on a probe was not involved in any discussions about of Democrats quickly enough.