Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

Mr. President, let me amend my earlier statement. I will take up to 5 minutes, please, if the Chair would advise me at the end of the 5 minutes.

The Senate has a very good energy bill before it. It would take a number of steps that will be viewed over the long term as very major steps in our energy policy. 

This is the first increase in CAFE standards in well over 20 years. It has improved efficiency standards for lightbulbs, for lighting fixtures, which will eventually save more energy than all of our previous energy efficiency standards combined. This bill contains permanent authorization for energy savings performance contracts--the single most useful tool for increasing energy efficiency in the Federal Government. It contains a strengthened program for carbon dioxide capture and geological sequestration and a framework for working through issues associated with geologic storage of carbon dioxide on Federal lands. It also contains strong new protections for consumers against market manipulation in oil markets. 

The story of this Energy bill is not only one of what we accomplished but also those items we were not able to accomplish. 

In the case of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the biggest issue on which we did not make progress was energy efficiency, especially increased vehicle fuel economy. We have rectified that, or we will be rectifying that as we go forward and pass this legislation and get it signed into law. 

For this bill, there were two big challenges we have proven unequal to here in the Senate. In my view, one is, of course, dealing with the very real problem of how to further incentivize the development of renewable energy. I hope we will have a chance to revisit the renewable electricity standard in the new Congress. I also hope we can revisit this issue of tax incentives. We failed earlier today to maintain in the legislation a package of tax incentives which I think is very important for the energy policy of this country. 

We have an extremely capable staff that has worked long and hard on this legislation. 

The Senate Energy Committee staff--there are many individuals here: Bob Simon, Sam Fowler, Allyson Anderson, Angela Becker-Dippmann, Patty Beneke, Mia Bennett, Tara Billingsley, Rosemarie Calabro, Michael Carr, Mike Connor, Jonathan Epstein, Deborah Estes, Alicia Jackson, Amanda Kelly, Leon Lowery, David Marks, Scott Miller, Rachel Pasternack, Britni Rillera, Gina Weinstock, and Bill Wicker. All of them have done a great job. 

Senator Domenici's staff has also done a terrific job. Frank Macchiarola, Judy Pensabene, Kellie Donnelly, Kathryn Clay, Colin Hayes, Frank Gladics, and Kara Gleason, among others on his staff I know have done a good job. 

The Senate owes a particular debt of gratitude to Senator Inouye's and Senator Stevens' staff, who developed the CAFE provisions in this bill. In particular, David Strickland of the Commerce Committee staff deserves recognition for his leadership, skill, and tenacity in negotiating these historic provisions. 

Chris Miller, on Senator Reid's staff, deserves our thanks for helping with the overall coordination of the bill in the Senate and with the House of Representatives. His counterparts in Speaker Pelosi's office, Amy Fuerstenau and Lara Levison, also put in countless hours attending meetings and helping to coordinate the activities of about 10 different House committees with interests in this bill. 

Special recognition also is due to the hard-working staff of the Office of Senate Legislative Counsel on this bill.  Their team leader, Gary Endicott, worked tirelessly to ensure that the provisions of this bill were expressed in clear and correct legal form.

His partner for the CAFE provisions was Lloyd Ator of the Commerce Committee staff. 

Other key contributors in the office of Senate Legislative Counsel included Michelle Johnson-Weider, John Henderson, Matt McGhie, Mark Mathiesen, Mark McGunagle, and Jim Fransen. They enjoyed the cooperation of their colleagues in the House Office of Legislative Counsel, including Tim Brown and Pope Barrow. Without the many hours they invested in drafting, redrafting, and assembling this bill, we would not have a finished text to consider today. 

Finally, staff in the Congressional Budget Office, including Kathy Gramp, Megan Carroll, Dave Hull, and Matthew Pickford, helped us ensure that the bill was compliant with the complicated scoring rules that face every major piece of legislation. 

All of these staff in Leg Counsel and CBO made themselves available on evenings and weekends to help ensure that we could finish this bill this year. 

With that, I will thank my colleagues for their support for this bill. 

I urge my colleagues to vote aye on the motion to go ahead with this legislation and send this bill to the President.