Mary Landrieu

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Reserving the right to object, could I ask the distinguished majority leader if he could add me to the list as the last person for 10 minutes?

Ms. LANDRIEU. I do object, I want to be cooperative.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, we are trying to wrap up many important issues before we leave. One issue that has remained elusive at this point is the solution for our offshore energy bill. The House has passed a version; the Senate has passed a version. I am here to talk about the benefits of the Senate approach to this subject since there seems to be some real confusion on the part of some of the House members about the Senate approach. I have had many private conversations and many meetings, but I thought I might try to clarify a few things as we seek to understand each other a little better. I have great respect for many Members on the House side. Chairman Pombo and others have worked very hard. I know they are very sincere about trying to find new avenues for domestic production. It is most certainly a goal I share and that many Senators in the Senate share, Republicans and Democrats. We have had our arguments, knockdown, drag-out arguments about ANWR. I am clearly on the side that supports production in ANWR. I happen to be in a minority of Democrats on that, and we could never pass that in the Senate, or have not to date. We have been debating it now for 30 years. But there is consensus--there is consensus--in the Senate about opening a significant area in the Gulf of Mexico to help bring much- needed oil and natural gas to this country. I wish to put into the Record from the Consumer Alliance for Energy Security what they say about natural gas: Natural gas is used to make fertilizer for ethanol. For those who are arguing for more ethanol, ethanol needs sugarcane, ethanol needs corn. We need fertilizer to grow sugarcane and corn. Natural gas is used as a substitute for diesel fuel in our buses and fleet vehicles. Electric utilities use natural gas to generate clean power. Natural gas is a raw material that goes into lightweight cars for fuel efficiency, wind power blades, solar panels, building insulation and other energy efficient materials. Natural gas is used to make hydrogen fuel necessary for fuel cells. They say: In the face of declining natural gas production, consumers are hungry for a solution to our energy crisis. The Senate has provided a solution. Democrats and Republicans agree-- we need more natural gas. So we have carved out an area. Shown on this map, is an area that is under leasing moratoria right now and which has been under leasing for the last 15 or 20 years. It has been closed off to production--8 million acres. But this Senate, in a historic vote, has decided that we need the natural gas. We believe in what the Consumer Alliance and thousands of organizations have stepped up to say. We need natural gas. We are prepared to open this section--8 million acres. To put this in perspective, ANWR is only 2,000 acres. So when critics of our approach say the Senate bill does not do anything, then, why did we debate for 30 years over nothing? If we debated 30 years only 2,000 acres, why is 8 million acres nothing? I do not think that is true. It is obviously incorrect. Eight million acres is a great many more than 2,000 acres. The reserves here are thought to be substantial. Shown on this map is the oil discovery that was announced 3 weeks or 4 weeks ago announced: the Jack well, as it is commonly known, discovered by a Chevron partnership. This one well, drilled 28,000 feet--10,000 feet of water and 18,000 feet of land--will double the reserves of oil and gas in the United States of America. This one little square, right here. So when people in the House of Representatives say, opening up 8 million acres here will do nothing, they are dead wrong. We might find four or five ``Jack'' wells in here. We could find 100. How would we know? Because no one will let us go look. And if we do not pass this bill, which the Presiding Officer helped to pass and helped to craft, we will never know, and our industries will continue to lose jobs and lose their competitive edge. We are losing thousands of jobs. Experts estimate that there is enough gas in this section alone to run 1,000 chemical plants for 40 years. That lessens the need to go drilling in ANWR. But this bill is not about ANWR. And the good news about this is, the States of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas are all in agreement. Republicans and Democrats are in agreement. They understand the need. They want to step up and help America. This money generated by this bill will go to support these coastal communities and reduce the deficit. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 3 more minutes. I see my colleague from California.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I appreciate that. Instead, the House of Representatives has proposed a bill that is breathtaking in its reach, and then wonders why we cannot pass it. In the House bill, the House committee decided to open up drilling along the entire Atlantic seaboard, and they took it upon themselves to redraw state boundary lines. Very few people have seen these state boundary lines, so I decided I would go ahead and show this map so people can see it. These lines have not been approved by the Commerce Department. They have not been approved by the Interior Department. They have not been seen by the Defense Department. And MMS does not certify these lines. There are 200 years of maritime law that went into developing the original lines that looked like this, as shown on this official Interior Department map. The lines shown on this Interior Department map are the lines that we are all governed by now. But the House committee decided to go into a room and redraw the lines without talking to the Governors of these States, the Senators from these States, and I am not even sure the House Members from these States ever saw these lines. They ask me why I can't pass this bill on the floor of the Senate. What is wrong with Senator Domenici and Senator Landrieu. They can't get this bill passed. I would suggest it is going to take a few hearings, a few public meetings, and a little bit of work over there before we can get something such as this passed. I will help them. I actually believe in what they want to do. I may be in the minority over here. I will help. But I do not think I can get this done this weekend. But what I can get done this weekend--what we can get done this weekend--is to open up 8 million acres filled with the natural gas and oil this country desperately needs. We can send a positive signal and a necessary signal to the marketplace that America is serious about finding more domestic reserves for oil and gas. And we can send a hopeful signal--as the Saints did when they carried that ball across the goal line earlier this week several times; an extraordinary game-- to the people of the gulf coast that we still know they are suffering, and we are going to pass a bill that helps to generate jobs in this region, saves their wetlands, builds their levees, and reduces the Federal deficit. Our bill respects the coast of Florida, it reduces the deficit, it saves the wetlands, it builds levees, and it gives everybody in America natural gas--and there is a problem with this bill? I do not know what the problem is. We had 72 Senators who worked all year on it. I respect the House of Representatives. I understand what they want to do. But it is too broad of a reach. The Senator from California is on the floor, and she has been very gracious, and I will only take 1 more minute. I did not have time to go get the model they have for the west coast, of which their bill wants to open up west coast drilling. With all due respect to Congressman Pombo, he does not even have the support of his own Governor in his own party. And he wonders why Senator Domenici cannot get his bill passed? He cannot get it past his California legislature. How am I supposed to get it past the Senate? So I am asking the House colleagues, please be reasonable. Take this a step at a time. Some people object to drilling on the Atlantic coast. I do not happen to be one of them. I will help them, but we cannot get that done this weekend. And it may never happen because you have to get political support from these States. But I will conclude with this: We have a great coalition in the gulf coast. The people of the gulf coast know how to drill for oil and gas. The technology is superb. We minimize the environmental footprint. We know where the gas is. Let us go get it. Then we can use that money to continue to help us restore our coast. So I am pleading with my colleagues. I will work with you. I will continue to work with you. So will Senator Domenici. And I think I can speak for the Senators from Florida, as well as the Senators from Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. We will put our shoulders to the wheel to do what we can, but let us go forward. In the Senate, the Gulf Coast States came together and created a formula that is fair to all. Each coastal-producing State shares in the revenues received according to the length of their coastline, their proximity to oil and gas development--and the likely impacts from that development. Also, the Senate formula recognizes that some of the Gulf States have provided oil and natural gas to the country for decades, receiving the brunt of the impacts, and few of the benefits. For that reason, States that have hosted the industry for the longest would have secured marginally more of the revenues by way of compensation. The Senate bill also recognizes that the minerals of the Outer Continental Shelf are a national resource--belonging to the Nation as a whole. That is why every State receives the majority share of the revenues: 50 percent would go directly to the Federal Treasury; 12.5 percent would go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund--a conservation royalty that benefits all 50 States. Arriving at a formula that was fair and equitable was not easy: each of the Senators from the four gulf-producing States met on a daily basis over a series of weeks. Ultimately, the gulf coast was able to stand united: all ten Senators from the Gulf States voted in favor of the Senate bill. But it was not an easy feat. Agreement among neighboring States is critical--and difficult to achieve. What is at stake are billions of dollars and the Nation's energy security. The House bill creates State boundary lines that would divide the Federal OCS into zones controlled by the closest State. Under the House proposal, States have the power to authorize or halt energy development activities within this zone. They also have claim to the lion's share of the revenues generated within this zone. The Senate and the House take fundamentally different approaches to two key issues: The Domenici-Landrieu bill would open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico--a region that has continuously been one of the most productive oil and natural gas basins in North America. Since the world's first offshore oil well was drilled near Creole, LA, in 1933, the Gulf of Mexico has provided the Nation with more than 15 billion barrels of oil and 165 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Each year, offshore production from the Gulf of Mexico offshore accounts for more than 560 million barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. If you add in the onshore production from the neighboring Gulf States, this region produces more than 1 billion barrels of oil each year. That is more than the imports from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela combined. Conservative estimates show that the Senate bill will increase the Nation's supply of affordable, domestically produced energy by 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That much crude oil will produce enough gasoline to drive 1.7 billion cars from DC to New York--with plenty left over to heat 1.2 million homes for more than a decade. These lines were drawn without any input from the coastal States, without input from the Minerals Management Service, the Coast Guard, or other stewards of America's oceans. In fact, the Minerals Management Service had painstakingly crafted ``State Administrative Boundaries'' in an effort to clarify which State has the most interest in the area seaward of its coastline because of the increasing number of commercial activities on the Federal OCS. These boundary lines--which were crafted in consultation with the MMS, the National Ocean Service, the Department of State, as well as in accordance with past Federal and Supreme Court decisions, and significant public input--were disregarded in the House bill. States that were deemed more likely to drill off their coasts seem to have been granted more territory. States that have made their opposition to OCS activity well known, seem to have had their territories trimmed down significantly. Virginia's gain was Maryland's and North Carolina's loss. Georgia's gain was Florida's loss. I support increased access to the Nation's offshore energy resources. I believe strongly that we need to make this Nation more energy independent and less reliant on foreign sources of oil. But I am also a pragmatist and know that we cannot overturn 30 years of poor energy management policy overnight--without consulting the States, without consulting our Federal natural resource managers. I encourage our neighbors on the east and west coasts to re-examine their failed policy on moratoria on developing energy resources from the Federal Outer Continental Shelf. But I cannot force them to do so. Instead, we need to have an open dialogue on this issue and work to improve U.S. policy in this critical arena. That much natural gas will sustain 1,000 chemical plants for 40 years--and those plants would provide jobs for about 400,000 Americans. The potential of future drilling in the Gulf was recently underscored by a massive oil discovery miles of the coast of Louisiana. Some analysts believe that this single find in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico could produce more than 15 billion barrels of oil. By 2012, daily production from this single prospect could total 800,000 barrels of oil per day of light, and more than 1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas. This discovery effectively increased the total proven oil reserves of the United States by 50 percent. While the ``Jack'' discovery is not directly adjacent to the 181 and 181 South area, some geologists have speculated that these mineral-rich ridges could extend eastward into the 181 and 181 South area. This find shows that the Gulf of Mexico remains one of the most promising oil and natural gas regions in North America and the world. It is likely that major finds such as the ``Jack'' prospect will spur an increase in exploration and production activity in the ultradeep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. It is highly likely that this discovery--and other major finds in the Gulf of Mexico--will cause bonus bids to escalate at future lease sales, and increase revenues flowing to the Federal Treasury. In contrast to the bounty available in the Gulf of Mexico, the MMS anticipates that the total production off Virginia will be about 560 million barrels of oil and 327 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Compare this to the resources opened by the Senate's Domenici- Landrieu bill in the Gulf of Mexico which the MMS estimates will total 1.3 billion barrels of oil and 5.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The Virginia proposal has 4.7 million acres. Domenici-Landrieu is adjacent to existing infrastructure--pipelines, ports, and refineries. The area off Virginia is not adjacent to industrial infrastructure. Virginians may want to open their shores to offshore oil and gas production--a goal that I share and support--but Virginia's waters are quite close to the shores of North Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware. Why is this a problem? In 1990, the State of North Carolina successfully forced several oil companies to cease all activity and relinquish their rights to drill more than 50 miles from shore, far out of sight from shore. Similarly, California, Maine, and Florida have repeatedly proven that they can shut down production, even when it is far from their shores. Today, the President has acquiesced to his brother's request that no new drilling be allowed within 100 miles of Florida. As a result, no new leases are allowed off Alabama--despite the fact that their oil and gas has been safely produced in that region for more than 30 years. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that excerpts of document from the Consumer Alliance for Energy Security and other relevant material be printed in the Record.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak about an issue that, of course, many of us have been involved in now for years, literally, trying to provide a revenue stream for the Gulf of Mexico-- not just Louisiana but Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. For 40 years or longer, they have contributed more oil and gas to this Nation than Saudi Arabia and Venezuela combined. In the minds of many along the gulf coast, particularly post-Katrina and Rita, two of the largest hurricanes to hit the North American continent, people along the gulf coast are feeling, on this issue, that perhaps the gulf coast has been forgotten. I want to say to my colleagues here, Republicans and Democrats, the people of the gulf coast are grateful, extremely grateful for all the support given this year for hurricane relief--not one, not two, not three, but four supplementals. Mr. President, you yourself have been down there personally, walking the neighborhoods that were destroyed and being a strong advocate for us on the Appropriations Committee. So we are very grateful. But there are two extremely important bills and issues that we must have to complete this package of initial recovery and lay a foundation so that the gulf coast can build securely. We know we can rebuild, but the question, from Pascagoula to Beaumont is, Can we rebuild safely? We have counties in east Texas and parishes in west Louisiana, western Louisiana and southeastern Louisiana, and counties in Mississippi, that have literally been 100 percent destroyed. I mean, in Saint Bernard Parish there was not a house left standing out of 75,000 people. It is so tragic because this particular parish has flooded like this not once but twice. Saint Bernard Parish has flooded, not once but twice. It flooded in 1965, when Hurricane Betsy poured about 10 feet to 12 feet of water, sort of in the same way--a storm surge, aided and abetted by this channel that the Corps of Engineers dredged to help the port and help navigation on the Mississippi River, which helps the whole country. But it really didn't help the people of Saint Bernard because they lost their homes. President Johnson came down and pledged, ``Never again.'' Here we are, 35 or 40 years later, and they have lost everything again. Some of these families who built back from Betsy, they are 70, 80 years old, to have it washed out again. It is just too much for this Senator to bear. It is too much for our delegation to bear. There are two major pieces of legislation that the Louisiana delegation cannot go home without this Congress, and that is the WRDA bill, because it is the water resources bill of the United States of America. Since we have more water than almost anybody, this is a huge bill to us. We are not managing our water well. It has flooded our homes. We have to pass this WRDA bill to help us build our levies, navigation channels, locks, and dams to protect our people--not because we are a charity case but because we contribute so much wealth to the Nation. The Nation can't do without it. You wouldn't want to try. If you did, and our pipelines closed and our refineries closed, and south Louisiana, south Texas, and the southern part of Mississippi and Alabama closed, you would just as soon turn the lights out in this Chamber. There would be no economy in the United States of America. That is a bold statement. You say: Senator that is not true. We could do without you. If I showed you the charts, which I am not going to bore you with, you could not get anywhere near the oil and gas we need to fuel the economy in this country without it. We can't go home without the WRDA bill, and we can't go home without the offshore oil and gas revenue. As much money as we get in WRDA, and as many projects as we get in WRDA, we can't wait every 10 years to authorize our project. We need an independent stream of revenue to secure our wetlands, to restore them. We have lost more wetlands than the State of Delaware. We lose a football field every 30 minutes. We lost the size of the District of Columbia in the last storm. I don't know how much more we can lose. If an enemy came to our shores to take our land away the way we are letting it drift into the gulf, we would have declared war. Our delegation put in a bill for OCS revenue sharing. We said we have a deal for the country. We will open even more in the gulf. Everyplace else is shut down. Nobody wants to drill, so let us even drill more. We will open up 9 million acres, and we will share the revenues with Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The country gets enough natural gas to fuel 1,000 chemical plants for 40 years. That is a lot of gas. The Southern States would share in a very fair and reasonable way these revenues. We think that would be a good thing for America. This is the Jack well that Chevron just found. It is one well, 28,000 feet deep, and it has doubled the reserves in the United States of America. When I hear some critics of the Senate approach saying to me--to the Senators from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas--that our bill doesn't do anything, it is just a wonder of what it might do if we could maybe find five more Jack wells here or 10 more. Who knows. There is a lot of land. The great beauty of our arrangement is we protected the coast of Florida, as the Florida Senators and the Governor of Florida, Governor Jebb Bush, have asked us to, and we still found enough territory to open. We are leaving here without this bill that makes a tremendous amount of sense because we just couldn't finish negotiations with the House. But I am very hopeful that when we return in the lame duck that it is a lame duck and not a dead duck because I could get a lame duck hobbling out of here, and I can't take a dead duck home. We need to take something home that is alive and flapping to give these people homes, to restore these wetlands, and for heavens' sake, send some oil and gas to the industries in America that are really on the edge right now of whether to expand these refineries or not because China looks more promising every day. If we don't give them hope, they are going to leave and jobs are going to be lost. I see my good friend from Idaho who knows this issue well. He might want to take one of my minutes and add a thought about this because he has been a good partner on this issue. I would appreciate his words on this chart or anything he wants to talk about.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Senator. Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, like many in Congress, I am disappointed that we are adjourning Congress for the October recess without enacting comprehensive U.S. Small Business Administration disaster assistance reforms. As our small businesses impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year can attest, this is an agency that is in woeful need of substantive reforms to its Disaster Assistance Program. Our businesses had to wait 4 to 6 months for SBA disaster loans to be approved, and some are still waiting to this day, for loan amounts to be disbursed. For my part, I have worked for the past year to enact substantive SBA disaster reforms to ensure that `lessons learned' from Katrina and Rita were incorporated and that businesses nationwide could count on a better prepared and more efficient SBA should a disaster strike their community. Under the leadership of the chair and ranking member of the Senate Small Business Committee, Senators Olympia Snowe and John Kerry, we sent to the Senate floor bipartisan legislation, S. 3778, which along with reauthorizing SBA programs, also enacts comprehensive SBA disaster reforms. Instead of working with us to take up and pass this important bill, the administration has frustrated this bill's passage at every turn and will not allow it to the Senate floor for consideration--almost 9 weeks after it was introduced. I am concerned about this lack of urgency from the SBA and the administration so just this week, I sent a letter to the new SBA Administrator Steve Preston. In this letter, I requested his cooperation with our committee to pass this important legislation before Congress adjourns at the end of the year. I will ask that a copy of this September 27, 2006, letter be printed in the Record. As we adjourn tonight, I note that we are set to pass legislation which temporarily extends programs under the Small Business Act until February 2, 2007. Although I do believe it is essential to extend these SBA programs, I worked with my colleague Senator Kerry to revise this date to November 17, 2006. This November date would have ensured that the Congress would have to return in November and at least attempt to pass SBA Disaster reforms. Instead, with these programs authorized through February 2, 2007, the Congress will adjourn in September 2006 and not take up SBA reauthorization until at least February 2007. I am disappointed by this development because, as elected officials, I believe it sends the wrong signal to our small business community. If the Congress, in partnership with the SBA, does not address these systemic problems now, I am afraid that it will continue to plague the SBA's disaster response for future disasters. I believe there is a general consensus that these reforms need to get done. Therefore, I will continue my work with my colleagues from sides of the aisle to make these essential improvements this year. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter to which I referred be printed in the Record.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I am sure there is going to be a very vigorous response to the charges that were made by my good friend, the Senator from South Carolina. Those will come later. I am sure that will be a very heated debate as we go on through these next few days and next few months.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Chair. (The remarks of Ms. Landrieu pertaining to the submission of S. Res. 585 are located in today's Record under ``Submission of Concurrent and Senate Resolutions.'')

Ms. LANDRIEU. Yes.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak up to 15 minutes as in morning business.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I would like to turn my attention to one issue we have to resolve before we leave on this Friday or Saturday. The Senators from Mississippi and Texas and Alabama and Louisiana and the Senators from Florida have stepped forward to come up with a plan that will do more than just talk about the recovery of the gulf coast but will actually put money behind that promise. We will put real money behind that promise. We have been working for months and months through an extremely difficult negotiation and have come up with a way to open more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, drilling for oil and drilling for gas-- particularly natural gas--as our region struggles to come back, to stay competitive as industries large and small struggle to come back. The price of natural gas remains too high. One way to drive it down is to open more gas reserves in this Nation, to open the supply. In the last Energy bill we passed, there were any number of ideas and new initiatives for energy conservation. But what we didn't do in the last Energy bill--please hear me--was open new production. We spent the whole time debating ANWR as if it were the only place in America we could drill. We have debated it for 40 years, and maybe we will continue to debate it, but it ended in a no advance- no retreat status--basically a draw--in the last Energy bill because all the energy was spent in a discussion of ANWR, which is a very important subject, but it is not the only place that has oil and has gas. We have a lot of it in the gulf. We are willing to drill. This is the extraordinary find just off the coast of Louisiana-- actually an outside distance of over 200 miles--most extraordinarily, 28,000 feet deep, 20,000 feet of water and 8,000 feet below the floor. This well in this small, little square will double the size of the reserves in the entire Gulf of Mexico. There is plenty of oil and gas in the gulf, and the great news is that Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama will do the drilling. We will be host for the industry. We respect the rights of other States that might choose other ways. Your State, Mr. President, has chosen a different way, other States look at the Atlantic coast and have chosen a different way, and Florida has chosen a different way. That debate is for another day. Right now, the American people need this leadership team to act, to open 9 million new acres of land in the Gulf of Mexico. This has been agreed to by Democrats, by Republicans, by Florida, by Alabama, by Mississippi, by Louisiana, and by Texas, by all the Governors, starting with Governor Bush, to Governor Perry, to Governor Blanco, to Governor Riley, to Governor Barbour. You would think we could get this done before we leave. This is a jack well, one little square. This is lease sale 181 and 181 south, which Pete Domenici has led in an extraordinary bipartisan effort with 72 votes on the floor to open this drilling. Many want to say it is not enough. It looks pretty big to me. We don't even know the oil and gas that is there because we haven't even tested it. Trust me, there is a lot of oil and gas. Check the industry, check the Web site about what must be there. And there is no fight about it. The only fight is we can't seem to get this bill passed when most everybody has agreed to it. Some people are holding out to drill off the coast of California or off the coast of New Hampshire or off the coast of New Jersey, which is not going to happen in the next week. It may not happen in the next year or two. But this can happen now. We need to make this happen now. The industry needs the oil and gas. Why do I keep saying it is America's energy coast? Because this is the pipeline. I didn't make this up. This comes off of the Web site. It is from the Annual Florida Natural Gas Supplemental Gas Supply and Disposition from the Energy Administration. This is not from Mary Landrieu's office; this is from the Energy Administration. This is where the natural gas is. This is where it comes from. The infrastructure is here, and our country desperately needs it. Here is another chart that shows it in a more colorful fashion. This is the pipeline coverage. You can see the contributions of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. This is the Superdome. It sits right here. There is Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Right here is the heart of America's energy coast. We are proud of it. There is not a whole lot of drilling going on up here, not a whole lot up here in the northwest, but the infrastructure is here. We need to open up lease sale 181. The steady stream of revenue to restore this coast and to build these levees--$8 billion--is produced off of this coast every year, and getting a portion of these revenues back to these States, opening additional reserves, and sharing these revenues to build this coast and to restore this coast is something we can get done. In the spirit of the leadership and the spirit of the great victory last night, let this team in Washington get this victory for the country before we leave. I yield the floor.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I came to the floor today to speak about something we can actually all agree on, something that has lifted the spirits of New Orleans and the region, and Louisiana, and the gulf coast, and that is the extraordinary victory of the New Orleans Saints against the Atlanta Falcons last night, in the super game, the first game in over 13 months and surely a game that will go down in history for many reasons. At this time I would submit a resolution to the desk in honor of the New Orleans Saints in behalf of myself and others.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I will read the resolution, if I could, because it expresses so many of the feelings of so many throughout New Orleans and the gulf coast: Whereas the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast were severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005 and the subsequent levee breaks which occurred; Whereas southwestern Louisiana and the State of Louisiana were severely impacted by Hurricane Rita on September 24, 2005; Whereas the New Orleans Saints and the Louisiana Superdome have always been special symbols of pride to the City of New Orleans and to the State of Louisiana; Whereas, due to the leadership and hard work of the men and women who rebuilt the Superdome, as well as to the partnership of the National Football League, the State of Louisiana and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Louisiana Superdome was able to reopen on Monday, September 25, 2006--13 months since the last New Orleans Saints home game was played there; Whereas the return of the New Orleans Saints to the Louisiana Superdome serves as a symbol of hope for the great rebuilding of the City of New Orleans, the State of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region; Whereas the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana showed its pride and support for the New Orleans Saints with an attendance of 70,003 fans at the September 25, 2006 game; Whereas the New Orleans Saints won their first game in the Louisiana Superdome since. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by defeating the Atlanta Falcons, 23 to 3; Whereas with the win over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday, September 25, 2006, the New Orleans Saints improve their record for the 2006-2007 season to a total of 3 wins and 0 losses, matching its win total from the 2005-2006 season and is one of just six National Football League teams with a record of 3 wins and 0 losses; Whereas Head Coach Sean Payton led the New Orleans Saints to win their first three games of the 2006-2007 season and showed his appreciation to the City of New Orleans by giving the game ball to the city; Whereas wide receiver Devery Henderson scored a touchdown on an 11 yard run in the game; Whereas cornerback Curtis Deloach scored a touchdown following the blocked punt by Steve Gleason; Whereas place kicker John Karney kicked three field goals in the game; Whereas the New Orleans Saints defense held the Atlanta Falcons to 229 total yards in the game and had 5 sacks on the quarterback; Whereas quarterback Drew Brees completed 20 of28 pass attempts for a total of 191 yards in the game; Whereas running back Deuce McAllister had 81 rushing yards and running back Reggie Bush had 53 rushing yards in the game; Whereas the entire team and organization should be commended for the work together over the past 13 months; Whereas the New Orleans Saints have demonstrated their excellence in athletics and strength and has shown their commitment to the City of New Orleans and to the State of Louisiana through their hard work and sportsmanship; and Whereas with the triumphant return of the New Orleans Saints, the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana have proven to be open for business and ready to continue the recovery of the city, state and region: Now, therefore be it Resolved, That the Senate commends the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League for (1) winning their Monday, September 25, 2006 National Football League game with the Atlanta Falcons, by a score of 23 to 3. (2) and we commend League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue for demonstrating exemplary leadership and commitment to the City of New Orleans. Mr. President, I thought it was important to read the words of this resolution which will go in the Record today. I am certain there were millions and millions of people all over America who watched that special football game last night because, as you know, it was more than a football game. It was a symbol of hope and recovery for a great American city in a great region of this country. I came to the floor today to share this resolution and to also thank my colleagues, as Senator Lott from Mississippi has done earlier this morning, to thank them for coming together in such an extraordinary and bipartisan way throughout this year to pass not one, not two, not three, but four supplemental requests that are helping to send money to this stricken region of the country. Even when there were some problems and some hurdles in the executive branch, this Congress came together across party lines, led in large measure by the appropriators in this Chamber, to say: Yes, this region deserves investment; yes, we need to fix FEMA; yes, we need to reform the Corps of Engineers; yes, we need to build levees; and, yes, we need to restore the wetlands that protect this great coast of which New Orleans and Houston and Gulfport and Beaumont and Lake Charles and Lafayette and Baton Rouge are such important cities in this region-- America's only energy coast. Last night, the Saints did us proud. They came home and not just won the game, but it was, of course, more than a game. For the Saints managers, for the dome director, for the commissioners of the dome stadium who helped get their magnificent building ready after such a tragedy of last year, we thank them. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the roster of the Saints players, the names of the coaches and the assistant coaches and their managers, the names of the contractors, and as many of the workers as we can get.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, it demonstrates that the people of the city of New Orleans are fighting to come back, to fight some obstacles that were thrown our way. Despite so much of the criticism that came from some places, we are determined to rebuild. The spirit of our city and the spirit of this region is strong, and the Saints represented that last night. They came roaring into the dome, as the Saints go marching in with our musicians and our artists and the great spirit of its people to say: We will not allow this city to die or this region to die. We are going to continue to fight hard, to build partnerships, to reform what needs to be reformed, to fix what needs to be fixed, and to build this region, every single neighborhood, every single town, and to do it smarter and better. The Saints came marching in. They brought a lot of hope to everyone. This resolution will commend them for their extraordinary work as we go into the difficult rebuilding in the years ahead.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be dispensed with.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, it is only 1:50 p.m. in New Orleans, but the bands have been marching since early this morning, and the singing is joyful. People have been so excited not only in New Orleans but in all of Louisiana because tonight the Saints will be marching again into that grand, wonderful building we call the Superdome. The Superdome has always been a special symbol to New Orleans, but tonight that symbol takes on a new meaning. It has been a symbol of pride in the past, and tonight it is a symbol of hope--a symbol of hope for the great rebuilding of our wonderful city, region, and State. Just a year ago, the Superdome was a symbol of sadness, loss, confusion, and despair as New Orleans, the region, and our State faced the worst natural disaster in the history of this country. It wasn't just Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that caused devastation, it was also the levees that collapsed and put a great city and region under some 20 to 25 feet of water. It was in that overwhelming flood that people fled to the Dome looking for safety and security. All of America knows this sad story. But I am here to talk about a story of recovery, a story of leadership. I want to thank the people who made the Dome's reopening possible--to thank the men and women who work at the Dome: the welders, the janitors, the cleanup crews, the construction crews, the managers, the architects, and the engineers. They spent the whole year rebuilding this Dome on a schedule that no one thought was possible, at a cost that came under budget. A partnership formed between the NFL, the State of Louisiana, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get this building back into shape and reopen tonight with 68,000 fans coming to watch the Saints play the Atlanta Falcons. I want to remind the country that these employees showed up to work each day to restore the Dome, many of them traveling hours to get there in the morning and hours back in the evening because there were no nearby houses for them to sleep. Many of them lost their homes, their children lost their schools, and their churches were destroyed. The successful rebuilding of the Dome is because of the people who showed up to work. Their journeys in the morning and their journeys home show a commitment to rebuilding a great city. Despite the criticism that the city, the State and the region have received, tonight is a symbol of all that is great about the spirit of the people who refuse to let this city die. Desiree Jones, who lives in Violet, La., is the housekeeping manager for the Superdome. She started working at the Dome 25 years ago as a janitor. Every day for the past two weeks, she has been working to get the Dome ready for tonight. She knows the Dome's reopening is a signal of rebirth for our city. I come to the floor to thank the thousands of men and women who worked on the Superdome. The were led by a wonderful leader, a young man who has really shown his stripes and all of New Orleans is singing his praises: Doug Thornton, the general manager of the Dome. He stayed in the Superdome with his wife and children doing everything he could to help the evacuees. His heroic efforts during those harrowing days a year ago have been well reported. But what might not be known is that Doug and his wife also lost their home. He didn't see his wife for weeks because he spent his time rebuilding the Dome while Denise spent time rebuilding their house in Lakeview. That is what people all over New Orleans and South Louisiana and the Gulf Coast are doing--going to work to rebuild the refineries, the pipelines, the industries, while their spouses are at home rebuilding what is left of their houses. Doug Thornton, general manager of the Superdome, is no exception. He deserves a tremendous amount of credit. Tim Coulon, the chairman of the Louisiana Stadium Exhibition District, is a former Jefferson Parish president and a man I know well. Tim has always been a very quiet but competent and effective leader. His leadership doesn't come from loud speeches and pushing but from quiet determination. Tim, his staff, and other board members worked very closely with Governor Blanco, who signed executive order after executive order, to cut through the redtape and expedite the Superdome's rebuilding. That partnership between our Governor, the stadium commissioners, and Doug Thornton was the leadership team that put this Superdome back together. I also have to say for the record that Paul Tagliabue, former commissioner of the NFL, saw what happened at the Superdome and decided that the NFL was a service organization, and its first job was to service teams and the cities. He understands something about the emotional connection between the teams and the cities that host them. The teams become a part of the spirit of every city, and he would not allow the Saints' spirit to die. He said the Saints will march again. He said the Dome will be rebuilt, and let's get to it. New Orleans will forever be grateful to Paul Tagliabue and his staff at the NFL for their belief in our city and for not cutting and running, not leaving when times got tough for us. They stood their ground, and we are very grateful. I also want to go on the record to say that the Dome has been a symbol of our city for 31 years. Its origin goes back to Governor John McKeithen. He was not from New Orleans. He was actually a country boy from Columbia, LA. But as our Governor, he had a vision of what a great Dome could mean to a great American city, a great southern city. He, along with the mayor at that time, my father, Moon Landrieu, along with Dave Dixon, a local businessman, decided the Dome would mean renewal for the city. The three of them overcame all sorts of political hurdles and were able to build this great Dome. We have hosted more Super Bowls than any building in America. It sits on 52 acres of land in the central business district. The Superdome has a seating capacity of over 70,000, depending on the event. When Dave Dixon had a vision for this Dome, he told our Governor at the time: You know, Governor, we will have a Pope here one day and a President here one day. Nobody believed him when he said that. But sure enough, President Reagan honored all of us when the Republican National Convention came to New Orleans 18 years ago. It was a proud time for New Orleans and Louisiana when 19 years ago, Pope John Paul II made the first ever Papal visit to Louisiana and held a rally in front of 80,000 children in that Dome. It was a site to behold. We have had a proud Superdome history right there on the corner of Poydras and Loyola, right across the street from city hall. It will be there for years to come because the heroic efforts of the employees at the Dome and our local contractors who put their shoulders to the wheel and their hearts into their work and decided that this would be a symbol of our rebirth. I am proud as the Senator from the great State of Louisiana to come and honor them, to thank them, and to say that this is the beginning of our recovery. This week, we close a chapter on Hurricane Rita, which, Mr. President, hit your own State of Texas, and which did so much damage to both Louisiana and Texas. I visited Louisiana this past weekend with some of Louisiana's delegation and local leaders. It is clear that recovery has begun, but there is still a long way to go. As we close the Rita and Katrina chapters of the last year, let the Saints go marching in tonight, and let them lead us to a new chapter of hope and recovery for New Orleans, for Louisiana, for the whole gulf coast, and for all of America. I yield the floor.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 20 minutes as if in morning business.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Thank you, Madam President. Energy Independence

Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I come to the floor to speak about an equally important issue to many of our States and follow up on the earlier comment by my colleague from Idaho on energy independence for the Nation, and the importance of that at this particular time to the Gulf of Mexico, America's only energy coast and an area that I need not have to explain again is in one of the most challenging situations of its entire history. I want to associate myself with the remarks of the Senators from Nebraska and North Dakota regarding the drought. We have had similar droughts, amazingly, in our State, even with the hurricanes. But as Senators who represent farm State communities, agriculture is very important to the State of Louisiana. We have been in a situation that they have been in. I know people think of us as a State with a lot of rain, and obviously a target for hurricanes, but we have also been stricken by serious drought. The point of my comment about what was said is this: Sometimes things happen out of the ordinary, extraordinary situations, as they have just described, which deserve an unprecedented and extraordinary response. I know we in Washington deal with that very well because we like everything that is sort of in the box, but we also don't like everything to kind of be one way. The fact is, when serious, extraordinary circumstances happen, we need to make a quick and appropriate response. It is most certainly appropriate for these Senators to come to the Senate and ask for a quick and immediate response to part of our Nation. This drought is not just, of course, in Nebraska and North Dakota. The pictures have shown pockets of severe and unprecedented drought, and whether it is because of global warming or whether it is just because of the severe weather patterns caused by something else, we can debate that until the cows come home. The fact is we have farming communities, rural communities, suffering right now. They need our best effort. I support seeing what we can do to help. Natural Gas in the Gulf of Mexico I will speak this morning for a few moments about an issue which is almost equal to the concern of farmers in America; that is, the price of natural gas. Farmers, like many industry groups, use natural gas. In their case, fertilizers are produced using a lot of natural gas, and fertilizers go into the farmers' fields. Natural gas is also used as a raw material to create virtually 50 percent of the products created in American gas. And we have a great shortage. It is driving the price high, historically high--not the highest it has ever been but historically high prices. The only way we can get the price of gas down--and we need to; that is what the Senator from Idaho spoke about, energy independence and stabilizing prices--is to increase the supply and to make the supply sources more diverse so industries, if the price of gas is high, can use coal, or if the price of coal is high, they can use oil, or if the price of oil is high, they can use alternative fuels or ethanol. We have been in a mad dash against time to expand our source of fuels and to increase the supply, where we can, in the most environmentally sensitive way possible. It has been a debate which has gone on for decades. It will continue to go on for decades because some States produce gas, some produce oil, some produce coal, and some do not produce any of that and have nuclear powerplants and think that is the way to go. Some of us have more wind than others, some of us have more sun than others. This is a debate which is natural in a democracy. Just because it is difficult does not mean we have to stop trying. We have to press forward on the issue of a greater supply and greater independence for America. We are dangerously dependent on foreign sources of oil and gas. Madam President, 72 Senators--unprecedented in this day of partisanship, in this day of not even being able to agree on the time of day or the weather conditions outside--72 Senators came together under the leadership of Senator Domenici, the chairman of our Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The Presiding Officer serves on that committee and has been a wonderful voice of reason for the Senate. We passed a bill to open more supplies of gas in the Gulf of Mexico. The Senator from Idaho showed a much larger and more colorful chart. I thought his looked terrific, and I will ask to borrow it one day, but I do not have it at this moment and this chart will suffice. It shows areas that are basically off of production. The white areas off the Atlantic coast, the coast of California, and around Florida have not been open to production for the last 35 years. There are many reasons-- some of them good and some of them not good--we can't drill in these areas. We will continue to debate for decades to come what to do off the shores of Washington, Oregon, California, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. That debate will go on for the next many years. I will be on one side of that debate, and my colleagues will be on the other. I believe you can access resources appropriately. However, we are not going to resolve that issue in the next week. We are not going to resolve that issue in the next month. I predict we will not resolve that issue for the next year. However, we have farmers in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Kansas who are desperate for gas now. They cannot wait 10 years or three decades until we figure out the politics of drilling on the Atlantic and Pacific coast. They need help now. For Congress to be able to help them and not help them is a crime. For Congress to be able to help them and not help them is a crime, it is a shame. It should not stand. We have the political support and the votes now--among Democrats and Republicans in the House and the Senate, today--to open more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. We have not been able to open sections in the gulf because of disagreements between Florida and Alabama for decades. Because of the good work of the Senators from Alabama, Mr. Shelby and Mr. Sessions, and the good Senators from Florida, Mr. Martinez and Mr. Nelson--they worked for months in the most difficult of political situations to come up with a way to open more oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, a place that everyone agrees has tremendous reserves, that everyone agrees is where we should drill. There are no fights among Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Now Alabama and Florida have come to agreements. Their Governors have agreed. Their general political establishments have agreed--not unanimously but the vast majority. We are here, a week until we leave, and we are going to do nothing-- that is what some people say--because it is not good enough. I don't know what school of politics or leadership they came from. All I know, as a leader, you take things a step at a time. You cannot change the world in 1 day. You have to change it a little bit at a time. It takes time to educate people and to talk to them about the benefits. I have taken as many Senators as will go with me out on the rigs. I took the Secretary of the Interior out there to show him. It takes a while to take a lot of people out there. They are busy. They have other things on their minds. We are doing the best we can to try to educate people all over the country about the benefits. We started drilling offshore in the 1940s. The first well was a little town in southwest Louisiana called Creole. It was just basically washed away in the hurricane. The brave little town, Creole, LA, put the first well offshore about four decades ago. The industry has blossomed since then. The purple spots on this chart represent pipelines of natural gas. But the purple spots represent more than pipelines; they represent jobs, economic hope, and economic strength of the greatest Nation on Earth. Without these pipelines, without this gas, we cannot produce hardly anything in the United States of America--from plastics, to manufacturing, to steel, to electricity. We keep the lights on in North America. We are proud of it. We want to do more of it. We can do more of it. We have a bill and the political leadership to open the gulf, but some people around the Capitol do not want to do that until we figure out the politics of drilling off the coast of California--I suggest that is going to take a little more than a few weeks--or until we figure out the politics of drilling off the Atlantic coast. I suggest that is going to take a little bit more work. I am willing to do the work. I have done a lot of the work for the last 10 years. I am continuing to do the work. It is not going to happen in the next month. Meanwhile, our manufacturing cannot stay competitive with China. With cheap oil and cheap gas coming in from other parts of the world, they are laying off workers, unable to make long-term capital decisions because this Congress can't figure out, this leadership can't figure out how to get a bill passed that opens gas and oil in the Gulf of Mexico. It would not be opened without a bill. It can't open without a bill. Maybe in the ``plan''--lots of things are in a plan. I have plans for my house, to decorate. That is not to say it is going to get done because there is someone else in my house--my husband--who has ideas of his own about how this works. Just because you have something in a ``plan'' doesn't mean it is going to happen. Just because MMS has these things in their plan does not mean it will happen, but it could happen with a bill that we could pass. If our bill is law, obviously it will make it happen. I will show the picture of the gulf here. This is what the Gulf of Mexico looks like. These are active wells. The bigger picture was white spaces with no one else drilling. These are all the drills, the yellow are the leases, and these are the active wells. We are producing 30 percent of the Nation's needs from here. We are proud to do it. We will keep doing it. There is still a lot of white space we could open. That is what we are trying to do--open a little off the Alabama shore, give Florida the buffer they have asked for. Some people do not agree with that, but we had to come to terms with the situation in Florida. Their State is divided on this issue. Some people in Florida want to drill, some people don't want to drill. This was a compromise, as is everything here, and we figured out a way to give Florida a buffer, open up some more oil and gas drilling. The next chart shows the area we came up with after a lot of work. This lease sale that we could open opens up 9 million new acres of oil and gas. This will not solve my colleagues' problem, Senators Kent Conrad and Ben Nelson, it will not solve their drought problem, but it will give relief to farmers everywhere when the gas prices come down and the oil and gas starts coming on line. To put the 9 million acres in perspective--and the Presiding Officer will know this better than anyone--we have fought for 40 years over whether to open ANWR, and ANWR is 6,000 acres. And our debate for 40 years has been about whether to open 2,000 acres. Our bill--and we have 72 Senators, Democrats and Republicans, led by Senator Domenici--will open 9 million acres. But some people around the Capitol don't think that is a significant step. They do not think that 9 million acres makes a difference. They just think this is nothing and we should keep working until we can get everything opened, and they are sure that will happen next year. I will share the national membership list of the Consumer Alliance for Energy Security. There are probably 100 or more organizations, led by corporations, nonprofit organizations, agriculture, chemical, consumers, manufacturers--the list goes on. It is a very broad-based list. It is not just an industry list; it is retailers, et cetera--the national Chambers of Commerce, the Forestry Association, environmental organizations that understand this country is at great risk unless we open access, that understand we need to do it a step at a time. We are making progress, but we have to take this a step at a time. We want to take this step now. I ask unanimous consent to have this list printed in the Record to indicate that this group is on the record wanting greater access on the issues I am speaking about.

Ms. LANDRIEU. But I want to go back to this 9 million acres. This will not open without our bill. It may be in the plan, but it is under moratoria. This section is under moratoria. It cannot be lifted with a magic wand. The only way it can be lifted is if we pass a bill to lift it. If we do not pass a bill, it will stay closed, and the oil and gas companies that have pipelines in the gulf, that have the infrastructure in the gulf, that have the expertise in the gulf will not be allowed to drill there. Meanwhile, prices go high, we lose manufacturing, everybody loses jobs in their States, and we wring our hands here saying we cannot do anything. Well, we can do something. Chevron did something pretty big last week or 2 weeks ago. Chevron and some of its partners discovered a major oil and gas find, as shown here on the map. Look how small this is. It is just one of these little dots, just one of them. It is so tiny on the map, but it is so huge. This one discovery of Chevron called the Jack Rig--the Jack find--and several right here in the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico will double the reserves of the country's oil. It is a significant find. It is as significant as finds in Saudi Arabia. It is surprising, in some sense, to some people who thought we drilled everything we could in America. But the fact is, Americans are a pretty smart group of people. And our partners around the world, with whom we make partnerships, can usually figure things out pretty well. With the right incentives and the right ingenuity and with necessity, we can find oil and gas in places we never thought we could. This well is 28,000 feet deep. They found oil and gas here that is going to be a great help in the event we continue to have problems in the Mideast, if we continue to have problems in Venezuela. It does not look very promising there to me right now. This is one small, little dot. It is probably not more than--I am not sure--maybe a couple hundred acres. So when people say to me: Senator, your bill or Senator Domenici's bill that opens 9 million acres does not do anything--and I look at what the Jack Rig did, which is right here--I have to tell them I don't buy their argument, and I don't think the American people do. Opening more area in the Gulf of Mexico where the infrastructure is, where we have proven reserves--and because the information is proprietary--and you can understand why it is proprietary because this is a competitive business. All we can find out, according to the geologists who made this discovery, is that they think they have tapped into a ``fairway''--which is the way it was quoted in the newspaper--a ``fairway'' of oil and gas, ready reserves within our grasp in the area that is used for drilling, with people who know how to work on the rigs, in a political environment that is safe. And we cannot, and will not, before we leave next week, take this step because we have to wait to open drilling all over America off the coast? I do not think that is a wise decision. I think we should take the steps now that we can take, establish revenue sharing, which is part of the bill for Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and allow these States to be full and equal partners in sharing the benefits of these resources because we most certainly share the burdens of pipelines, that while we are proud of them, they most certainly have an erosion factor. Our wetlands are being lost at an alarming rate--I have spoken about that many times--not just because of the impacts of oil and gas, which are somewhat contributory to this situation, but mostly because this mighty Mississippi River, which also serves the Nation's economy in a very significant way, has been leveed over the centuries, and it cannot overflow like it used to. So the land cannot replenish itself. And so it continues to subside. And with global warming, it is now exacerbated. But that is not the subject of this talk. We will put our money to great use in Louisiana. Every environmentalist should be very happy to know that our money is going to be used to protect and preserve this great wetlands, which is an enormous treasure for the Nation, and one that gives so many benefits, and, most importantly, with the recent hurricane, it helps protect great cities, and not just Louisiana communities, but it also protects Mississippi. We are happy to protect our neighbors when we can. This wetlands protects the gulf coast, and we need to get it restored for the benefit of both the States of Mississippi and Louisiana. And it creates some buffers, obviously, to Alabama, should the storm come this way. It will hit us first before hitting Mississippi or Alabama, and our wetlands reduce that surge. Having said that, we need to press on with a pro-production bill in the Gulf of Mexico, laying the foundation, as Senator Domenici has suggested, for revenue sharing. Now, I would like to read into the Record statements that have been made by Republican Senators, not Democratic Senators, although I do have some of those I could read into the Record. But for the purposes of this debate, they are statements by Republican Senators who strongly support the Senate version, and why they support the Senate version, because I want to communicate that some people on the other side or some people in the Capitol and other people are saying it is just the Democrats who are stopping this broader drilling bill, and if Democrats would just get their act together, we could get it done. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are some Democrats opposed to the broad drilling bill, but there are many Republicans here opposed to the broad drilling bill. Let me read one of the statements. And I am sure Senator Graham from South Carolina would not mind me restating his own speech on the floor of the Senate. He said, on August, 2--this is Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina: I do support passage of S. 3711, but I do not support the bill passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year. The careful compromise that is the Senate bill cannot be found in the version passed by the House. I will not support any legislation that opens South Carolina's coast to drilling for oil. . . . I . . . encourage my colleagues in the House that if they are truly serious [they will live to the framework of the Senate bill]. Now, he said ``for oil.'' He may be willing to open it for gas. I will grant you that. And the House bill allows a choice between oil and gas. But, like I said, that debate is complicated. It is multistate. It will take much longer than the week we have, much longer probably than even next year. And the need is immediate and the need is great. I know my colleagues have come to the floor, and I asked for 20 minutes, so I am going to wrap up my remarks in about 1 minute to give others an opportunity to speak. Let me quote from Senator Martinez, a Republican Senator from Florida: I will take a moment to thank [the House] for their diligence and vigilance. [I will thank the House Members for their good work. But at this time] I cannot support the House version. I have had clear assurances from our leaders [here in the Senate] that we are committed to working from the framework of the Senate bill. That has been important to me, and while I respect the hard work of our House colleagues [on this subject]-- And we have some great leaders in the House, both Republicans and Democrats--those are my words. He goes on to say: and their autonomy as a body of Congress-- He says he respects that, but we must prevail in the Senate version. Senator Warner said: Many of my colleagues have expressed concerns about the Gulf of Mexico bill, and they stem from what is in the House bill. They said they do not want to lift the moratorium as the House bill would do. So even Senator Warner, who supports drilling off the coast of Virginia and has made his position clear, understands there is still work to be done in order for that to happen. Mr. President, in conclusion, let's not make the perfect the enemy of the good. Let's not tell our agricultural community, our manufacturing community, our utilities, our petrochemical industry to wait when we have a bill that will open 9 million acres of gas and oil, provide great companies such as Chevron and others the opportunity--both big oil and independents that create a lot of jobs--to explore more here safely off our coast. It increases our economic strength. It produces jobs immediately. It lowers energy prices for all consumers. And it does make our Nation more secure. I am going to close with this: I do not know how my colleagues feel about being beholden to the politics of the Mideast right now. I do not know how my colleagues feel about being beholden to the politics going on in Venezuela. I do not feel comfortable with it. I do feel comfortable about the politics of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. They are Americans. And we have our deal together. We want to drill for all Americans, for the security of our Nation. Please, allow us to give this country more oil and gas. Please allow us to lower prices. And let's take it a step at a time. I promise my colleagues--the Senator from Pennsylvania knows very well the people in Pennsylvania need relief. I say to the Senator, they cannot wait another year or two. They need it now. He knows that well. He has been a strong advocate for his people in Pennsylvania. But we have to open this up now. And we will come back and work offshore Alaska, offshore maybe some of these other States, when their Governors and when their legislators and when their political leadership can get their neighborhoods together. But the neighborhood of the gulf is together. Our Governors are together. Our Senators are together. And our people are together. We want to do this for America. Please let's do it. I yield the floor.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, next week the United States will welcome President Nursultan Nazarbayev, the leader of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Fifteen years ago 15 independent states were formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The international community has followed the aftermath of these events in that part of the world with great interest. Kazakhstan has demonstrated important economic gains during this period. The reforms which have been carried out thus far have allowed it to become one of the world's rapidly developing economies with an annual growth of 9-10 percent. Additionally, it has become the place for common ground among its various ethnic and spiritual groups. As ethnic and religious conflicts divide regions around the world, Kazakhstan is working to preserve broad interfaith tolerance by creating the Congress of World and Traditional Religions. This program unites a predominantly Muslim country with more than 40 other faiths and fosters a dialog which assists in overcoming religious differences. One cannot overlook Kazakhstan's contribution to nonproliferation and promotion of global security. Kazakhstan had the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal, and renounced this lethal heritage without any pressure or coercion. Independent Kazakhstan is a young nation, yet it has shown tremendous progress and occupies a worthy place in the international community. President Nursultan Nazarbayev has made significant contributions to the establishment of strong and friendly relations with the United States. After the tragic events on September 11, 2001, Kazakhstan extended its generosity to the people of the United States and after Hurricane Katrina it offered its generous support to the people of Louisiana. Today our countries enjoy a solid foundation for the continued flourishing of a partnership along the entire spectrum of bilateral relations. Kazakhstan is a dependable partner of the United States in the global war on terrorism. I am confident the upcoming visit of President Nazarbayev to the United States will deepen and strengthen the strategic partnership between our two countries.

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I didn't hear the request.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I have no objection.