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[Page S1450]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
S. 2657
Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, in the meantime, the Senate will
continue considering an important package of comprehensive energy
legislation. For the first time in more than a decade, we are looking
at a thorough update to the laws governing innovation, security, and
workforce development all across the American energy sector.
As Chairman Murkowski has noted, 12 years is a long time. The demands
we face in researching, producing, refining, storing, and protecting
our abundant domestic energy have evolved a great deal since 2007, so
it is high time for relevant Federal policy to evolve as well. I am
grateful the chairman was willing to take on this important task, and I
am glad she and Senator Manchin led their colleagues on the Energy and
Natural Resources Committee through an overwhelmingly bipartisan
process to produce this bill.
As I mentioned yesterday, the legislation aggregates 50 individual
bills. It contains input from more than 60 Senators. It covers an
exhaustive range of energy-related challenges, from power storage and
renewable technologies to carbon capture and electrical grid cyber
security.
It has earned the support of a similarly broad range of industry,
advocacy, and research organizations. In one joint letter, the
Bipartisan Policy Center, the American Nuclear Society, the Nature
Conservancy, and 36 other signatories endorsed it as ``the culmination
of extensive efforts to develop practical legislative solutions.'' That
is the American Nuclear Society and the Nature Conservancy--that ought
to tell you what you need to know about this bill. This is a bipartisan
piece of legislation done right. This is how you take practical steps
to build consensus on issues that affect every American in every State.
Around this time last year, you will recall we saw a high-profile
example of exactly what not to do. The far-left edge of the House
Democratic caucus rolled out a massive scheme to forcibly remake much
of our economy and our society according to their radical top-down
designs.
We all remember the Green New Deal--categorical bans on the most
affordable forms of American energy, a dim future for millions of
energy jobs, unprecedented Washington mandates on every subject from
building codes to personal transportation. We all remember what
happened next: This socialist fantasy did not stay confined to
ideological fringe; it quickly grew into a broader rallying cry. When
the Senate had the opportunity to vote on this wish list of central
planning, only four--just four--of our Democratic colleagues could
bring themselves to vote against it. That is quite a remarkable
commentary on the state of our politics.
Experts estimated the Green New Deal could have cost our government
more than the GDP of the entire world. The Green New Deal could have
cost our government more than the GDP of the entire world. Instead,
this bipartisan legislation will let us direct responsible and targeted
investment in a smart way toward key energy priorities.
The Green New Deal sought to have Washington micromanage everyday
life in this country to a degree that the 20th-century Socialists would
have drooled over. Instead, this bipartisan legislation will create
better policy and regulatory conditions for American workers, American
innovators, and American job creators to actually thrive.
Speaking as the senior Senator from Kentucky, I know firsthand that
many Americans in the middle of the country suffered badly during the
Obama era because Washington bureaucrats decided American energy had to
fit their ideological designs. The very last thing we want is to move
backward and expand those errors exponentially with radical leftwing
experiments that would make the last administration's War on Coal look
like child's play.
What Kentuckians and all Americans deserve is for the Federal
Government to make prosperity and domestic energy dominance easier--
easier--not harder. They deserve investment and support to help the
communities that have fueled this country for generations to prosper
once again, and that is what this bipartisan bill will actually
deliver.
I am proud to support this smart legislation. Clearly, I am not
alone, since only three Senators voted against advancing the bill this
week. So I would urge all of my colleagues to keep up their support,
and let's see this package through to the finish line.
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