Pete Domenici

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Each of them have how much time?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I assume the time is going to be charged proportionately against all the remaining speakers?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I appreciate the support of Senator Bingaman. The Energy and Natural Resources Committee included the language which is going to be stricken if the amendment passes. I urge the Senate not to strike the language. All Americans today are looking at the gas pump. They are seeing the price. The average price in the United States is $2.13. That means something. They go home and they wonder about it. They ask questions: What are we going to do about it? Americans should know that not at the gas pump but out there across the land there is another phenomenon occurring. That is the terrific increase in the price of natural gas, this marvelous product that years ago we didn't think we had very much of, and then we started finding it. All of a sudden we thought we had an amount which we would never run out of. So we started putting it in the big powerplants because it is clean. We pumped it in by the trillions of cubic feet to produce electricity. Now, all of a sudden the price is going up because demand has gone up dramatically. It has increased 300 percent in a short period of time. It is predicted, if something doesn't happen, the price could go as high as $13; today it is only $7. It was at one time down in the neighborhood of $1.50 or $2. That means if it continues to go up, we will have no fertilizer business in America. We will have no chemical business in America. Natural gas, which we use in our powerplants, will begin to run out. We are using it for all kinds of purposes. Then we will understand. We don't understand it right now. All we are saying is, America, out there in the ocean, 200 miles, you can put these drilling platforms--I flew out and landed on one--you can put them out there. People have seen them on television. They are absolutely tremendous technological feats. There is no pollution. Nothing happens except 10 or 12 wells are drilled, this valuable resource that we own comes up, and we use it. We thought it was very important for our citizens to know how much natural gas or crude oil exists out there. Nothing is going to happen to the States. Nothing is being changed versus the States. The moratoria exist. If we brought a moratoria amendment up here and said, lift the moratorium on Florida, it would lose. The bill would die. A filibuster would occur. We are not asking for that. As a matter of fact, the bill says you can't even drill to determine the assets that America owns. It will be done by new, modern technology, seismic and otherwise, that in a few years will say to America, through Congress, to the President--and it will be a truthful, full disclosure, a transparency--America, if you have a problem, you have some alternatives. You can import natural gas in big ships that will bring it over here in a liquefied manner. We will still be paying foreign countries for it. We don't know if the price will come down. We don't know if they will have a cartel. They don't now. But if I were them, they are not subject to any national laws of ours, they could form a cartel. Natural gas could keep going up. We would keep importing it. I can tell the American people, if we have this asset out there and some State thinks that maybe we ought to drill, or the United States of America believes we are throttled, we ought to know what is there. That is all. Some decision can be made in the future. I say to my fellow Senators, please understand, this is not a proposal to change any moratoria. This is not a proposal to harm the State of Florida. We compliment the distinguished Senators, Mr. Martinez and Mr. Nelson, who have argued eloquently on behalf of their State. Senator Dole has been here. The Senator from New Jersey has been here. We recognize all of them. Did Senator Bingaman have any time remaining?

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, before we are finished with the votes on global warming--and I will have a little to say; I will get time from somebody--I will present to the Senate a detailed summary of the bill that is pending before the Senate in terms of what it does to move the United States of America toward a reduction in the so-called greenhouse gases led by carbon. This bill we are going to vote out of here hopefully tomorrow or the next day that we worked so hard on in the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, with Senator Bingaman, my ranking member, and Senators such as Lamar Alexander who have worked very hard, it does take some giant steps toward the reduction of carbon in the American economy. It does so in ways that if our business communities want to spend money and use innovative technology, the opportunities are there. If our scientists want to make breakthroughs to clean up, it is there. If people want to move with nuclear power, which is the cleanest--right now, as my friend from Tennessee has reminded me, 70 percent of the carbon-free emissions in America come from the nuclear powerplants. That is rather astounding. We run around thinking we have done so much cleanup, but these very old--old in that we have not built one in 23 years--these nuclear powerplants are the ones that are cleaning up right now. All I am saying is, this bill says if we are right, we are going to build some nuclear powerplants during the era of trying to reduce carbon. That is going to be part of our world, both economic and cleanup world, as provided in this bill. We will summarize that. There is no attempt to delude the efficacy of the other bills, be it Hagel or McCain, but merely to say we recognized this in our committee, but we just did not think we ought to do global warming per se. That is where we are. The Senate is confronted with the unanimous consent agreement which we have just laid before it. I yield the floor.

Mr. DOMENICI. I ask the Senator, would you like to get the yeas and nays on your amendment?

Mr. DOMENICI. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. President; is there a quorum call?

Mr. DOMENICI. Further parliamentary inquiry; what is the regular order at this point?

Mr. DOMENICI. Further parliamentary inquiry: Is there any other time on behalf of any other Senators on either side?

Mr. DOMENICI. Might I ask, when those are finished, what is the regular order after that?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, have the yeas and nays been ordered on the Hagel amendment?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I hope the Senator from Colorado, Mr. Salazar, will find his way to the Senate Chamber because he asked us to get him some time, and we are doing that right now in this request. The suggestion I have for the Senate is as follows: I understand Senator Salazar from Colorado would like to speak for 3 minutes as in morning business about a deceased general in his State. Then Senator McCain will offer a climate change amendment along with his cosponsor, Senator Lieberman. That will be debated tonight, and we will set some additional debate time for tomorrow if required by the distinguished Senators or anybody in opposition. We may, however, have an additional vote tonight. I want everybody to know this. We might have a vote tonight. It will not be on the McCain amendment, but we will set that amendment aside, without objection from the Senator from Arizona, and take up this other amendment. We have a number of amendments that are pending, besides the one I just indicated. One of those is a DeWine-Kohl amendment. We are going to try to work that in here and that would be without a rollcall vote. The Voinovich amendment is the one on which we will be voting. We will proceed, as I have indicated, and recognize the Senator from Colorado, if he is here. If he is not here, we are going right to Senator McCain. If he comes, maybe the Senator from Arizona can accommodate Senator Salazar. If not, we will let Senator McCain proceed.

Mr. DOMENICI. We are not waiting. Senator McCain is yielding time.

Mr. DOMENICI. Parliamentary inquiry: Does the Senator from New Mexico have the floor?

Mr. DOMENICI. I believe that I could now argue against the pending amendment, but I choose at this point, if we could, because I made some arrangements that I don't think are inconsistent with the minority leader--not agreements but arrangements--if we could let Senator Inhofe, who is now in opposition to the amendment, proceed, he would like to speak for 10 minutes.

Mr. DOMENICI. And then could we go to Senator Inhofe for 10 minutes?

Mr. DOMENICI. OK. This is an interesting moment. I don't want to object.

Mr. DOMENICI. That will be voice voted, however it turns out. Then we are going to proceed, without objection, to Senator Voinovich, who has an amendment which has been circulated for a while. He desires to debate that amendment and have a rollcall vote, correct?

Mr. DOMENICI. If anybody wants to speak in opposition, I will ask that they have 1 minute and that you have 6 minutes on your side. Is that satisfactory?

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I have already told the minority what I was going to do if I can get an understanding. Senators DeWine and Kohl want to offer an amendment. I ask them if they could complete their amendment--allowing the Senator from New Mexico 1 minute--in 6 minutes between the two.

Mr. DOMENICI. I am not trying to tell you; I am asking if you can do that.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be a period for morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes.

Mr. DOMENICI

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday, June 21, 2005, at 9:15 a.m., for a hearing titled, ``Juvenile Diabetes: Examining the Personal Toll on Families, Financial Costs to the Federal Health Care System, and Research Progress Toward a Cure.''

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 21, 2005, at 9:30 a.m., to receive a classified briefing regarding improvised explosive devices (IEDS).

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 21, 2005, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing on ``The Consideration of Regulatory Relief Proposals.''

Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 21, 2005 at 9:30 a.m. to hold a hearing on Russia.