Ken Salazar

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. SALAZAR. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Brownback be recognized to speak on this amendment for up to 10 minutes, and following Senator Brownback, then to hear from Senator Cardin for up to 10 minutes.

Mr. SALAZAR. Madam President, I thank my friend from Kansas for his great statement with respect to the DRIVE electric amendment, and I also recognize that he was one of the original members of the whole coalition that put together this DRIVE Act and was part of implementing the principles of the Set America Free Coalition. Madam President, I yield the floor to my friend from Maryland, Mr. Cardin, who is up next.

Mr. SALAZAR. Madam President, while my colleagues are seeing if they can work out the objection, let me proceed to speak about this amendment. The amendment I hope to call up is amendment No. 1572, and it is an amendment which is part of----

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, let me start by thanking Senator Bingaman, chairman of the committee, and Senator Domenici, ranking member, for their fine work in producing the Energy bill before us today. This energy legislation is important for our country as we move toward energy independence. It is strong on alternative fuels. It is strong on energy efficiency. Through the work of the Commerce Committee, it has strong CAFE standards that will make all the difference in the world in terms of how we use transportation fuels. It also begins to do some important work with respect to carbon sequestration. This is good legislation. The amendments and debates we are having hopefully will build on that good legislation to get us to the point where we can deliver to the President a good bill. The President said in his State of the Union that one of the things he wanted us to work on was moving forward to get rid of our addiction to foreign oil. It is our hope that by working together in a bipartisan fashion, as we did in the Energy Committee, we will be able to move forward with respect to reaching that vision of energy independence for the United States. Let me say that I am here to speak in support of the Bingaman proposal which I am cosponsoring on a renewable electricity standard for the Nation. Let me at the outset say, we in the Congress, we in the Nation should not be afraid. We should not be afraid of having a robust renewable electrical standard, called an RES, a renewable portfolio standard. There will be significant benefits that will help our economies. It will help rural communities, it will help our environment, if we have a robust national standard for renewable electricity. Some may say: How do you know that? I have heard my colleagues on the other side of this amendment arguing that we don't need a national standard because it will harm particular States or areas. There were lots of people in my State in Colorado in 2004, just a short 2 years ago, who made the same argument, that if we passed an RPS in my State of Colorado in 2004, we would see a parade of horribles coming down the pike. Well, in 2004, the voters of Colorado decided on their own they were going to take this measure to the voters of the State, and they passed a renewable portfolio standard of 10 percent by the year 2015. Because Colorado's efforts have been so successful in the last 2 years, the general assembly this year decided to double that standard to 20 percent by the year 2015. What had been the parade of horribles has not been a parade of horribles in Colorado with respect to the RPS. It has been a parade of celebration with respect to what we have been able to accomplish on the ground. Let me refer to two very significant economic facts and initiatives within our State. One relates to wind. Two years ago, we had a very small wind farm. It produced just a few megawatts of power. That was 2 years ago. Fast-forward to today. Because of the RPS, in Colorado, today we now have four major wind farms in operation. We have two more wind farms currently under construction. By the time we finish a year from now, those wind farms will be producing 1,000 megawatts of electricity. Let's put that in a context so people can understand what we are talking about with respect to 1,000 megawatts. One thousand megawatts is about the equivalent of what we would produce with three coal-fired powerplants. We were able to do that with the power of the wind in less than 2 years. What has been the benefit for Colorado? First and foremost, we are contributing to the economy of our State because there were counties, such as Weld, Logan and Prowers Counties that I refer to as forgotten America because they have such limited opportunities out in those rural communities that struggle on the vine every day. What has happened is the RPS has injected a new economic vigor into those rural communities. It is something about which the bankers, Democrats and Republicans alike, are all very happy and excited. It is something about which the school boards are very excited as well because it has brought significant additional tax revenue into the coffers of some of the rural school districts that suffer from not having enough money for schools or for other public needs. It also has made sure the people of Colorado understand that they are contributing to the environmental security of our Nation. We are past the debate in this Nation as to whether global warming is a reality. The people in my State recognize they are making a significant contribution to dealing with the issue of global warming because they passed an RPS which has been a good RPS. In fact, it has been so good in terms of acceptance by the people of Colorado, almost without a whimper the requirement was doubled this year so that now we in Colorado will be producing 20 percent of our electricity from renewable energy resources by the year 2015. That is not a long way away. We are not talking 2050 or 2040. We are already at 2007. So within 8 years in Colorado, we are going to be producing 20 percent of our energy from renewable energy resources. It is not just wind. I come from what is one of the most remote and rural, poorest areas in the United States. The place is called the San Luis Valley. It is a place where you have to struggle to make a living. But it is a place also that is embracing the new ethic of renewable energy, driven in large part by the renewable portfolio standard we have in Colorado. Because of that RPS, the largest utility in our State, Xcel, has broken ground on the largest solar utility generator in the United States. That solar electrical utility farm, which is now under construction in my native valley, is creating jobs for the people of the valley. It is something we are very proud of. With the advances being made in solar technology, there is no reason in most of our States we would not be able to create a robust addition for our electrical needs that actually is powered from the Sun. Our experience in Colorado with respect to a renewable portfolio standard, a renewable electrical standard, has been an absolutely positive one. It was one that was approached with some trepidation a few years ago. Today it is wholly embraced. I ask my colleagues in this Chamber today to look at the RPS as something that, in fact, is a great opportunity for the people of this country. If it worked for the State of Colorado, it can also work for the rest of the Nation. Let me also say that Colorado is not alone. If you look at a map of the United States and look at all of the States that have passed a renewable portfolio standard, they are from all parts of the country. We now have at least 22 States that have adopted their own renewable portfolio standard. So if we have 22 States plus the District of Columbia that have already adopted a renewable portfolio standard, does it not make sense, instead of having a patchwork of regulation from one State to another, where you essentially have no RPS in one and a different RPS in another, that we have a national standard? From my point of view, it does. The mechanism that has been set forth by Senator Bingaman in this legislation will allow us to have that renewable portfolio standard and also will allow us to take into account the different renewable resources for electrical production that we have from State to State. I am very hopeful that the RES before us will ultimately make it into law. Let me talk a little bit about the primary benefits I see from this RES. The first is that it will bolster our renewable energy production by creating certainty in renewable energy markets. With an RES, producers, developers, and manufacturers know that there is a guaranteed market for renewable electricity. They make long-term investments in infrastructure and renewable energy development when they know that certainty is there, and that is what this national RES will provide. That added stability will result in a second major benefit. That is an economic benefit both to consumers and to communities that assist in production. As I said, in my State consumers who have been participating in a program that Xcel has provided on a voluntary wind energy program have saved a total of $14 million in 2004 and in 2005. A 2005 study of the Energy Information Administration found that a modest national renewable energy standard of only 10 percent--only talking in 2005 about 10 percent by 2020--would result in savings to consumers of $22.6 billion. We are going to do better than that here because our RES we are proposing is 15 percent. Meanwhile, communities particularly rural communities, thrive with new jobs, with new infrastructure, and a new economy that is built on invention and investment. The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that a national renewable energy standard of 20 percent by 2020--we are not proposing that we be that ambitious in this particular amendment--that a 20-percent by 2020 standard would spur $72.6 billion in new capital investment, with $16 billion in income to America's farmers and ranchers, and $5 billion in new local tax revenues for rural communities. That is a terrific shot in the arm for parts of our country that are dying for these kinds of opportunities. Thirdly, a national renewable electricity standard will enhance our environmental security and take an important step toward reducing our carbon emissions. If we were to pass a renewable electricity standard of 20 percent by 2020, we would reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by more than 400 million tons a year--that is more than 400 million tons a year. That would be equal to taking 71 million cars off of America's roads or the planting of 104 million trees in our country. We know an RES by itself will not solve the global warming problem, but it is, in fact, a significant step in the right direction. I want to, once again, thank Chairman Bingaman for his leadership on this amendment. It is an important addition to this bill and a leap ahead for our Nation's energy security. It is, at the end of the day, an effort for all of us to embrace a clean energy economy for the 21st century. A clean energy economy for the 21st century is one of the imperative issues that we can grasp on, we can discover on, on a bipartisan basis, for America, and we can do it now in 2007. It is not something for which we have to wait until 2010 or 2011. It is something we can do now. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that David Hiller, of my staff, be given floor privileges during the remainder of the debate on H.R. 6.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``Assessing Telework Policies and Initiatives in the Federal Government.''

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, May 12, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. to hold a hearing on foreign assistance and a nomination hearing.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 12, 2007 at 2:30 p.m. to hold an open hearing concerning Terrorist Ideology.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, at 10 a.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building. The hearing will focus on a recent proposal of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service to limit the amount of universal service funding available to competitive eligible telecommunications carriers.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at 10 a.m. in room 406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in order to conduct a hearing entitled ``Examination of the Health Effects of Asbestos and Methods of Mitigating Such Impacts.''

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Tuesday, June 12, 2007, at 10 a.m., in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to hear testimony on ``Trade Enforcement for a 21st Century Economy.''

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on June 12, 2007, at 9:30 a.m., in open session to consider the following nominations: Mr. Michael G. Vickers to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict; VADM Eric T. Olson, USN, for appointment to the grade of Admiral and to be Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command; and The Honorable Thomas P. D'Agostino to be Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, Department of Energy and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for a period of up to 20 minutes on the legislation and that following my remarks, Senator Alexander speak for a period of up to 30 minutes.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I rise today to praise the progress this body is making toward reducing our dependence on foreign oil. In 5 short months, we have assembled and advanced a package of energy proposals that will strengthen the foundation of a new, clean energy economy for our Nation. Senator Bingaman and Senator Domenici have led us to where we are today, as have the chairman and ranking member of the Finance Committee, the Environment and Public Works Committee, and the Commerce Committee. The bill before us today, H.R. 6, is a product of many minds and many good ideas. The extraordinary progress the Senate has made in the last 5 months responds to a seismic shift in how Americans are thinking about energy and about our world. At no time in our history--at no time in our history--has energy been so clearly a matter of national security, of economic security, and of environmental security. The issue before us is fundamentally about the security of the United States of America. Think back to 2000. At that time, it seemed that the threat of Islamic radicalism was confined to foreign soil. Few understood the urgency of combating climate change at that time. Gas prices at that time were $1.20 per gallon. That price cloaked the real costs and the real danger of our dependence and our addiction to foreign oil. Today, this is all different, and fortunately, today, the people of America and this Senate are recognizing it is all different. In every corner of American society, the conventional wisdom about our energy policy has changed. The fact is, our dependence on foreign oil affects the lives of Americans each and every day. It touches our security, our pocketbooks, and our conscience. Most strikingly, oil has become a major factor in global security. Our dependence--our dependence--our overdependence makes us vulnerable and weakens our standing in the world. Since 2001, China and Russia have partnered to lock up oil in central Asia, rolling us out of that region. Venezuela has wielded its resources to buy off its neighbors and to divide our hemisphere. Iran has used its oil resources to court Russia and China, convincing them to oppose our diplomatic efforts to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons. Countries that wish us harm know about our addiction. They know any disruption in supply sends gas prices through the roof and slows our economy. They are happy--they are happy--our enemies are happy to profit from our addiction. Oil money lines the pockets of terrorists, extremists, and unfriendly governments. It funds the Hezbollah rockets and militias in Lebanon today. It reaches bin Laden, it reaches al- Qaida, and it finances the militants in Nigeria who kidnap and terrorize westerners. The sad truth is that today we are funding both sides of the war on terror. We spent over $100 billion last year to fight the extremists in Iraq and Afghanistan, extremists who are funded indirectly through the oil revenues we finance out of this country and around the world. This situation is absolutely crazy. To make matters worse, our oil dependence is causing economic pain for Americans. With gasoline over $3 a gallon and holding, $50 and $80 visits to the gas stations for family members to fill their cars are straining family budgets and frustrating small business owners. Across my State, the farmers and ranchers whom I fight for every day here are budgeting for the harvest, and they are having to budget for numbers that are astronomical that they never saw before. The question they ask themselves as they go to bed every night is whether they are going to be able to make enough money to pay off their operating line at the end of the harvest season. Americans want affordable alternatives at the filling station. So far they have few. We must move forward in providing those alternatives. The third reason we are on the floor today with this legislation is our bill will help jumpstart a new energy economy. That new energy economy is based on the environmental security threats we see from global warming. Climate change now stands as one of the greatest moral challenges of our time. It is an issue we are obligated to confront. The desperation and disaster brought by Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and a series of prolonged droughts, floods, and fire storms over the past several years have driven climate change to the center of American consciousness. We cannot afford to leave our children a legacy of an environmental disaster. We need to begin to work on that problem now, and this legislation begins to do that with respect to carbon sequestration. This is not the beginning of our efforts here. In 2005, this Chamber, with most of the Members who are still here today, worked in a bipartisan fashion to pass the 2005 Energy Policy Act. The bill before us today is a significant step forward toward tackling the national security, economic security, and environmental security implications of our oil addiction. The 2005 Energy Policy Act was a first step in moving us in that direction. We approached the 2005 Energy Policy Act much as we have this proposal today. It was a work Senators Domenici and Bingaman did-- Senator Domenici was chairman and Senator Bingaman as ranking member, and now their roles are reversed. They said we have an energy problem and we can craft a better energy policy, and that received nearly 80 votes in the Senate. It is that same bipartisan approach that they have taken to this legislation. Other committees also contributed to the legislation before us today and have also taken that kind of approach. That is why, at the end of the day, we will succeed in moving forward with energy legislation in the Senate. The bill in the 109th Congress, the 2005 Energy Policy Act, was perhaps the most important energy legislation passed in 20 or 30 years in this country. During that time, I traveled to all 64 counties in Colorado and spoke to the people of my State about that bill. By and large, they appreciated the balanced approach we took to the 2005 act. The bill kick started a renewable energy economy, made big investments in technologies, took a cut at consumption with smart efficiency measures, and it made sensible additions to our domestic oil and gas supply. There remains much to be done, and that is why we are here today. We should not forget our bipartisan work of 2 years ago, which planted the seeds for our new energy economy; and today, in the week ahead, and in the following week, we will have an opportunity to build on the success of 2 years ago. The new energy economy is in fact taking root. I don't think you will find a better example of how quickly Americans can change their approach to energy than in my State of Colorado. We have sparked a renewable energy revolution in Colorado in just 2 years, and the benefits have already touched every corner of my State. Our farmers and ranchers are leading the charge. In Weld County, Logan County, and Yuma County, which are remote and far away from Denver, we are seeing biofuel plants spring to life, creating new markets and new opportunities for our rural communities. So the ``forgotten America,'' in fact, is having new opportunities created for them because of the fact that we are embracing the clean energy revolution. Today, we have three ethanol plants that are already in production, where there were none 2 years ago. We have several others that are under construction and are being planned. But it is not just biofuels. In the San Luis Valley, where my family has lived, ranched, and farmed for five generations, Xcel Energy just broke ground on the largest solar plant in North America. More and more wind turbines are turning on the plains of southeastern Colorado, powering front range homes, while providing incomes for the ranchers who own the land. Indeed, the current program with respect to the construction of wind energy farms in Colorado will mean that very soon we will be producing the same amount of electricity that is produced from three coal-fired powerplants in Colorado. That is enormous progress in a very short time. How did we spark that renewable energy revolution in Colorado? The Energy Policy Act of 2005 helped, but it is not the only force of change. The National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden is the crown jewel of our labs, and it is a hub for innovation for our clean energy future. The President of the United States has visited NREL. Many colleagues in this Chamber have visited NREL. We do all we can here to support the work that the researchers are doing there today. We have created the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, which binds the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden with the Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, and the University of Colorado. The collaboratory is an engine for ideas, technologies, and talent, and making sure those technologies are being deployed out into the private sector. I have held a renewable energy summit in Colorado in each of the last 2 years. We have tried to connect the business community and those people with the ideas to make sure that deployment occurs. These summits have been a huge success and were attended by the business community, environmental interests, farmers, and ranchers. This last year, we had over a thousand people who attended that summit, which was sponsored by the Governor of Colorado, Governor Ritter, as well as mayors and other leaders throughout the State. In Colorado last year, 2007, we actually moved forward in enhancing our renewable energy standard, our renewable portfolio standard for our State. The renewable energy revolution underway in Colorado makes me all the more excited about the bill we are considering today. Its provisions are sensible and, by and large, they are bipartisan and should be noncontroversial. The bill includes 3 key components. First, it dramatically increases production and the use of biofuels. The bill will quintuple the existing renewable fuels standard to 36 billion gallons by 2022, 21 billion of which must be advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol. That is more than enough to offset imports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Libya combined. I will say that again. The 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuels, combined with what we produce from corn ethanol, will get us to 36 billion gallons. That amount of production from alternative biofuels is enough to offset our imports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Libya combined. I make that point to underscore the importance of the biofuels and alternative fuels title in this legislation. Second, H.R. 6 also helps us reduce our dependence by making better use of what we have. The transportation sector accounts for a full two- thirds of our oil consumption. It offers the cheapest and best opportunities for saving fuel. The bill helps automakers retool their vehicles by providing items such as loan guarantees for hybrids and advanced diesels. The bill will also make a reasonable increase in CAFE standards. The bill increases and incentivizes the engineering capabilities of our automakers. Finally, the bill before us also begins to address the environmental consequences of our energy policy. The debate about how to tackle the threat of global warming will have few easy answers. It will be a difficult challenge for us when we get to specifically addressing the issue of global warming later in this Congress. But one thing we can do today is to determine how we can store the carbon we are currently putting into the atmosphere. Carbon sequestration technology is neither new nor complicated. It has been around in the oil fields in America for 50 years. We need to take that technology and refine our techniques for storing it and determine where we can store the carbon that is currently being emitted from powerplants and other sources around our country. This bill will help start us in that direction. Mr. President, how much time do I have left?

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I want to say I am very proud of this bill. I know a lot of work has gone into this bill. It is an impressive and thoughtful next step toward reducing our dependence upon foreign oil. In the coming days, I hope we can find ways to strengthen this legislation in some specific ways. I want to speak very briefly about four amendments that several of my colleagues and I will be offering in the several days ahead. The first amendment I intend to offer is the 25x'25 resolution, which establishes a national goal of producing 25 percent of America's energy from renewable sources, like solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass, by 2025. That resolution is a vision for where we want to get as Americans. It is sponsored by a great group of bipartisan Senators, including Senators Grassley, Hagel, Harkin, Lugar, Obama, and the Presiding Officer, Senator Tester. That legislation was introduced earlier this year as S. Con. Res. 3, and it has received widespread backing. It is endorsed by 22 current and former Governors and many general assemblies from across the country. Nearly 400 organizations, from the Farm Bureau and the Union of Concerned Scientists, to John Deere, to the Natural Resources Defense Council, have embraced 25x'25 and the vision incorporated in that amendment. I hope we can include that in this legislation. The second amendment, which I will mention briefly, incorporates provisions from S. 339, the DRIVE Act. That is legislation which Senators Bayh, Lieberman, Brownback, Sessions, and 23 other Senators have been working on for a long time. It has a robust mandatory oil savings plan. The DRIVE Act aims to increase our Nation's energy security by cutting 2.5 million barrels per day from our Nation's oil use by 2016, and 10 million barrels per day from its oil use by 2031. I am hopeful these provisions will also be added to the bill. Third, Senator Bingaman and I and others will be introducing an amendment to create a national renewable energy standard. Many States, such as Colorado, already have a renewable energy standard and are reaping the benefits. I know there will be debate and discussion about how exactly we move forward with the renewable energy standard. But I believe the time has come for our Nation to adopt a renewable energy standard in the same way many States have done, including my State of Colorado. For example, a renewable energy standard of 20 percent by 2020 will reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by an estimated 400 million tons per year. That is equal to taking 71 million cars off of America's roads, or planting 104 million acres of trees. While we look at this renewable energy standard, I know we will have a debate about whether we can improve upon what we have done here. I look forward to that debate. Finally, the Presiding Officer, Senator Tester, from Montana, and I will be introducing an amendment to make better use of America's vast coal resources. Coal is to the United States what oil is to Saudi Arabia. The vast resource of coal from the great States of Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, West Virginia, and throughout our country, is something we need to use. But as we use our coal resources, we need to make sure we are using them in a smart way so it doesn't damage our environment. The amendment we will introduce will provide loan guarantees to build coal gasification facilities. We also will have standards in there with respect to life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from those facilities to make sure they are 20 percent lower than emissions from petroleum fuels. I appreciate the great work of my colleagues who have worked on that amendment. How we improve our energy security and reduce our dependence upon foreign oil is the central national security, economic security, and environmental security challenge of the 21st century. It will determine whether we will continue to be entrenched in conflicts over resources in every corner of the world. It will determine whether we will triumph in our fight against oil-funded extremists and terrorists. It will determine whether our economic fortunes will hinge on the price of oil that OPEC sets, or whether the United States will stand proudly and independently as the world's innovator for clean energy technologies; and it will determine whether we will succeed in leaving our children and grandchildren a world wrought with environmental dangers, or whether we can correct our path in time. I thank my colleagues for their great work on this bill, and I look forward to a productive and thoughtful debate and a successful conclusion to energy legislation in the days and 2 weeks ahead. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I see my colleague from North Dakota wishes to speak.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Madam President, I first acknowledge my good friend from Connecticut for his good work on the DRIVE Act over the last several years. It is no coincidence that he and a number of bipartisan Senators have been leading the effort to make sure we set America free. In fact, the coalition that helped in writing the legislation Senator Lieberman spoke about calls itself the Set America Free Coalition. It includes conservatives such as C. Boyden Gray and progressives such as former Senator Tim Wirth, who have come together and recognized that setting America free from our addiction to foreign oil is an imperative for the United States in the 21st century. Similar to the good work that gets done in this Chamber, this is bipartisan legislation. This amendment also has the cosponsorship of Senators Brownback, Coleman, Lincoln, Cantwell, Kerry, Dodd, Collins, Kohl, and Reed of Rhode Island, and others. It is a good amendment that reflects the bipartisan composition of this body. Let me say why I believe this ambitious set of goals for the United States is important. It is irrefutable that today about 66 percent of the oil being used in America comes from abroad. Of the oil we are importing from those foreign countries, 41 percent of it comes from underneath the sands or lands of hostile regimes. So that national security implication is we need to get off the pipeline to those hostile regimes that today essentially allows them to fund the war on terror against the United States and the free world. The legislation we have before us with this amendment reflects the American dream of a more energy-secure future, with fewer oil imports and a strong renewable energy economy here at home. We need to set high goals for oil savings because we know we can, in fact, meet them if we set them high--in the same way we set high standards in the 1960s, when President Kennedy said we would be launching an initiative that would get a man to the moon within 10 years, and we were able to do that; in the same way President Roosevelt said we would be able to move forward and develop the Manhattan Project, and we were able to do so within 4 years. That is the same kind of vision and the same kind of boldness we need to have with respect to oil savings in America today. The amendment we have brought before this body today--which is the embodiment of the oil savings provision of the DRIVE Act--in fact, has that kind of boldness, that kind of courage within it. I, therefore, strongly encourage my colleagues in the Senate to support the amendment we have brought before you. Let me, once again, say this amendment is broadly supported by both Republicans and Democrats in the Senate. I hope it is one of those amendments that can be adopted by our Chamber. I yield the floor.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Suzanne Wells from my office be given the privilege of the floor during the consideration of this legislation.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, let me, first of all, congratulate Senator Bingaman and Senator Domenici, the chairman and ranking member of the Energy Committee, for their great work and their leadership. I think the legislation they have brought to the floor today, along with the legislation from the other jurisdictions in the Senate, exemplifies the working relationship we have seen from the Energy Committee over the last 2 years. The 2005 Energy Policy Act could not have been passed without the bipartisan leadership exhibited by Senator Bingaman and Senator Domenici. For that, I am grateful to be a part of their committee. Let me say to all our colleagues, we should definitely vote yes on the motion to proceed, as we embark on this journey of looking at energy independence for our Nation. The drivers for energy independence, in my mind, are stark and clear. It is fundamentally one of the very most important issues that face our Nation today. First and foremost, the driver of national security compels us to get rid of the addiction we currently have to foreign oil. When one looks at what is happening in Lebanon and the funding of the Hezbollah organization that continues to create havoc in that part of the world, it is a stark reminder to us that for too long, America has slept while our enemies have fueled themselves with the dollars that come from the very high price of oil from places such as Iraq. Our country today is dependent on us being able to grasp that concept of national security. That is why in this Senate Chamber you will see it is not only Democrats who are going to be working on this energy legislation but it is Republicans working on this legislation, because the issue of energy independence is not a Democratic agenda or Republican agenda, it is an agenda that is essential to the future security of America. I am hopeful, as we move forward with this legislation, we will grasp the fact that we are taking some significant steps forward. First, the biofuels increased by moving forward with a renewable fuel standard will mean we will be quintupling the amount of energy we expect we can produce from biofuels. Second, the major initiative with respect to energy efficiency is something we ought to embrace. That is low-hanging fruit for all of us in America as we deal with energy independence. Third, we take major steps with carbon sequestration and move forward on the debate on global warming, which is essential to our country; and finally, looking at other issues, such as CAFE standards, will help us get down the road. I urge all my colleagues to join us in this historic endeavor as we march forward toward energy independence in our Nation.

Mr. SALAZAR. Parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, would it be possible to have my colleagues yield 3\1/2\ minutes, following Senator Boxer's statement on our side?

Mr. SALAZAR. That would be fine with me.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I want to make a few comments about the legislation we have been working on so hard. The overall comment I want to make is, failure on this issue is simply not an option. Failure is not an option. The people of America deserve the Congress to resolve this issue because of the very important values that are at stake. I want to say, first, before I make some other comments, that we would not be here, frankly, if it had not been for the leadership of Majority Leader Reid in setting aside this time for us to debate this issue of such national significance. So I appreciate him and all the leadership he has provided in this effort. I also appreciate the leadership of both my Democratic and Republican colleagues who have worked hard on this issue for the last 4, 5 months. Indeed, it has been more than a 4- or 5-month debate and struggle. Indeed, it has been more than a 4- or 5-month debate. We were on this floor for a month last year casting some 30, 35 rollcall votes, and we have been on this issue now for the last several weeks. We had a warning it was coming up. But there has been a lot of work that has gone into this legislation. It is my hope, with the sense of optimism expressed by my good friend, Senator Kennedy from Massachusetts, that Senator Reid and Senator McConnell will lead us to some resolution of this issue. I want to say a quick word about why I don't think failure is an option. I don't think anybody here ought to be saying the immigration reform package is dead, because it isn't. It isn't. We are very close to coming up with legislation that will address the fundamental values we have been trying to address from the very beginning. In my mind, I want to say what I believe some of those fundamental values are. First and foremost, we have to fix our borders. We have a system of broken borders in this country where people come across the border and we don't know who is coming into this country. We don't know who is coming into this country. In a post-9/11 world, that is absolutely unacceptable. We also have a broken immigration system within the country, because when people come into the country, we don't know where they are and we do know that many of them overstay their visas. Forty percent, fifty percent of the people come into the country legally and simply overstay their visas. How can we have a system of national security when we don't know where these people are? So national security compels us to make sure that we get to a solution, and that is why failure is not an option. Secondly, there are significant aspects to this legislation. I look at the great work Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Larry Craig have done with respect to AgJOBS, a piece of legislation that has been almost a decade in crafting. I know about the fruit that rots in places in California. I know about the agricultural disaster problems we have in many places across our country, including my State of Colorado. AgJOBS is an important part of the legislation. People and organizations, both Republican-leaning organizations and Democratic-leaning organizations, from the United Farm Workers to the Farm Bureau of America, and others, want us to pass this legislation because it included AgJOBS. Today, the farmers and ranchers of America ought to be saying to this Senate and to the leaders of this Senate that they want this bill and they want to get it done as soon as we possibly can. Third, there are moral issues that frankly ought to guide us in dealing with some of these issues that are so important to our country. Sure, there are 12.5 million people who came here to America and they came here to work and to live the American dream. Tonight, many of those people live in fear not knowing what is going to happen to them, not knowing what is going to happen to their families the next day. Because they broke the law, we said in this compromise, in this piece of legislation we put together, that we were going to have them pay a fine. We were going to punish them. That is what we do in America all the time. We pass laws in this body. The Presiding Officer and I served as attorneys general for a long period of time, and what we do is when people break the law, we punish them. So we created a system here that provided punishment to people by requiring them to pay a fine. We also in this legislation require that they pay fees, impact fees. We require them to pay other kinds of fees. So this was not what some of those people from places around the country have said is an amnesty bill. This was a bill that put people into probation and into purgatory where over a period of time, over a period of 8 years--you wait for 8 years and at the end of 8 years, if you do the time, if you pay the fine, if you stay crime free, if you learn English, you go to the back of the line, you meet all of those requirements, then--then--you become eligible for a green card. So what we crafted was a bill that was in fact a workable bill. Having said all of that, I think the aim here still is to address those very important strategic interests of the United States of America, and I do not believe failure is an option. I believe that the Democrats, working with the Republicans, can still move forward to find legislation that will address the imperative of fixing our broken borders and our lawless immigration system which we currently have in America. The last thing I want to say again is the best of times, frankly, for me in the Senate have been when Democrats and Republicans came together to solve the problems of our country. The issue of immigration isn't a Republican issue or a Democratic issue; it is an issue that is an American issue. If we are going to solve an issue that is as difficult as this very contentious issue for America, it is going to take Republicans coming over and working with the Democrats so we can get cloture on the bill, so we can get whatever amendments crafted that are not the poison pills some would try to offer, and we can get that done. I have confidence. I have confidence in my Democratic colleagues as well as my Republican colleagues that we can live up to the optimism-- we can live up to the optimism Senator Reid shared with us here tonight. I yield the floor.

Mr. SALAZAR

Mr. SALAZAR. And with respect to the Inhofe amendment, the minority time has expired, and there is 43 seconds left on the majority side?