The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“LEGISLATIVE SESSION” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Senate section on pages S1450-S1452 on March 4, 2020.
The Department oversees energy policies and is involved in how the US handles nuclear programs. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department's misguided energy regulations have caused large losses to consumers for decades.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
LEGISLATIVE SESSION
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ADVANCED GEOTHERMAL INNOVATION LEADERSHIP ACT OF 2019--MOTION TO
PROCEED--Resumed
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to S. 2657, which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to S. 2657, a bill to support innovation in advanced geothermal research and development, and for other purposes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, today we vote to begin the consideration of S. 2657, which will serve as the vehicle for the American Energy Innovation Act. This is truly bipartisan energy policy. This innovative package will be the first comprehensive policy update in 13 years. It brings together the strong bipartisan work of the Energy Committee over the last year.
I would like to thank my friend and chairman of the committee, Lisa Murkowski, Republican from Alaska, for her leadership and partnership with me over the last 14 months to process these bills and form the basis of the energy package we will be turning to today.
Thanks to the members of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee for their contributions to the development of this legislation.
The American Energy Innovation Act draws from 53 bills from Members from both sides of the aisle, and 39 of those were truly a bipartisan effort. And 63 Members of the Senate have either sponsored or cosponsored a piece of this package.
It truly is a bipartisan product and one that I believe will benefit this country greatly. So far, we have had over 150 amendments filed, several of which are bipartisan, and there is no controversial issue that I know of. I am hoping that we can work together to incorporate some of those amendments from both sides of the aisle.
As it stands, the American Energy Innovation Act will advance the abilities of Department of Energy and the National Laboratories to deliver the much needed technology that American workers can then produce and export across the global marketplace. Not only will it further our ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy, transportation, industry, and buildings, but it will also enhance our cyber and grid security and maintain our competitive edge and role as a global leader.
We talk a lot--all of us do--about global climate, and when you think about global climate, then you think about our responsibility and what we emit into the air. For some reason, most people have been led to believe that power generation--whether it be coal-fired powerplants, natural gas-fired powerplants, or anything that has to do with fossil--
is contributing all of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. That is just not true.
Let me give you the breakdown. Power generation contributes 27.5 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions. Power generation is how you get your electricity--if it comes from a coal-fired powerplant, gas, or any other type of fossil.
Transportation is how we come and go back and forth to work and how we receive our goods. Whether it is going to be by car, by train, by plane, or by trucks, 29 percent of the responsibility for greenhouse gases goes to transportation.
The industry is where people work, where they make their living, provide for their family, whether it be in a small factory, a large factory, a small business, or a high-tech business. Industry contributes 22 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Commercial and residential, which is the building we are in today, which is the beautiful Capitol, and where we live--just the commercial and residential--are 11.5 percent responsible for greenhouse gases.
So you have to have an ``all in'' policy. One thing doesn't fit, and we don't have a silver bullet to fix everything. What we have done is this. You take all of those--power generation, transportation, industry, commercial and residential--and that represents 90 percent of all the greenhouse gas emissions. We are approaching--and, basically, this piece of legislation approaches--every one of those to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions.
If we all work together and pass this truly bipartisan, far-reaching, all-inclusive bill, it will make a world of difference in how we lead the rest of the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. That is what we are trying to do.
We do it through innovation. We don't do it through elimination. Elimination is not practical, responsible, or reasonable. The rest of the world will not follow, and, basically, we have to have baseload fuel. It has to be dependable, reliable, and affordable, but it has to be the cleanest in the world. That is what this bill does.
There is the other 9 percent. You say: Well, that is 90 percent; where is the other 10 percent? That is in agriculture. That is not in our jurisdiction, but they are working very hard in the Agriculture Committee to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and their footprint. Everybody is doing their job.
I believe this package is well balanced, and many of my colleagues' priorities on both sides of the aisle have been met. This bill represents a critical step in the right direction. I encourage--I truly, sincerely encourage--all of my fellow Members, Democrats and Republicans, to vote yes today on the motion to proceed. Your children will thank us, and your grandchildren and generations after them will definitely thank all of us for doing our job today.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Democratic leader is recognized.
Coronavirus
Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, as the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States continues to grow, Congress is taking swift action this week to provide our health experts, hospitals, healthcare providers, and State and local governments the funding they need. A bipartisan negotiation between appropriators in the House and Senate is very close to producing an emergency funding bill that will provide between $7 and $8 billion to respond to the coronavirus.
This is very close to the amount that I thought was appropriate when I requested it last week--$8.5 billion--and it is more than four or five times what the administration originally requested. I believe that if we had not pushed them, they would have been totally inadequate to the crisis, as they have been in preparation and planning.
The administration requested $2.5 billion, which was half, and only half of that was new funding. The rest came from pulling it out of other things, like Ebola, which is very much needed as well. The bill we put together here in Congress is far more appropriate and will actually address our country's short-term and medium-term needs. This is very, very good news.
I would like to compliment Democrats and Republicans, in the House and the Senate, for making efforts to come together and for being the adults in the room, while President Trump childishly exaggerates, underplays, points fingers of blame, latches on to conspiracy theories, and, most of all, doesn't lead. This is an example of where America needs leadership, and President Trump's lack of leadership is glaringly apparent to Americans.
Crucial legislation provides funding for very specific and timely needs. There will be $350 million for ``hot spots''--areas affected by the outbreak. There will be $500 million to procure pharmaceuticals, masks, protective equipment, and other medical supplies to distribute to States, local governments, and hospitals. There will be $100 million for community health centers and funding for training and beds. We are replenishing the CDC's Infectious Disease Rapid Response Reserve Fund so that it can respond quickly to local areas that experience an outbreak.
In total, there is over $950 million in funding for State and local governments to undertake the many activities they need to respond to the spread of the virus, surveillance for the coronavirus, laboratory testing, contact tracing to identify anyone who may have been infected by a person known to have the virus, infection control at the local level, and more.
This is only one piece of the bill. The rest of the bill will give desperately needed funds to CDC, HHS, USAID, FDA, and others to do vaccine research and development and much more. The funding level in this bill and the specific use very much reflects the needs of the country as healthcare professionals across America work to confront the spread of the virus.
I want to thank our appropriators on the frontlines: Ranking Member Leahy and Chairman Shelby in the Senate and Chair Lowey and Ranking Member Granger in the House. While the Trump administration's response has been slow and halting, Congress has taken action. While President Trump is playing fast and loose with facts and blaming everyone not named Donald Trump, Congress is taking responsibility in acting like the adult in the room.
Democrats would like to see this emergency funding package passed through the Senate by the end of the week, and we will work with the majority to make sure that that happens. I urge all of my colleagues, in the interest of time, understanding the urgency of the matter, to help us achieve this goal.
Now, yesterday, Vice President Mike Pence and his team from CDC, FDA, and HHS met with the Democratic caucus to answer questions about the administration's response to the coronavirus. We appreciated their willingness to come to our caucus. They stayed. Unlike at some of the previous briefings, they stayed and addressed a lot of our questions. The only problem is they didn't have as many answers as we needed--
answers the American people would have expected at this stage of the epidemic.
One of our top priorities at the moment is testing. We need to know who is infected in order to contain the spread of the virus and treat any American infected by the disease. We asked the administration about the availability of testing kits, but they could not answer how soon hospitals, medical labs, and public health centers would receive the tests and if they would have enough of them to do the amount of testing required fast enough. The best way to deal with testing is to let people do it onsite. Let them go to their local doctor, their local CHC, and get the test and get an answer quickly. Unfortunately, the Vice President and his team had no answers to that. It is a real problem. Our questions at the meeting yesterday should give the administration an urgency to figure this out as soon as possible.
I would also plead with President Trump to begin showing some leadership on the coronavirus. So far, the President's main concern has been to tamp down concern about the virus. He gives broad assurances that ``everything is under control.''
When you show up at your doctor's office because you think you might have the coronavirus and there is no test, he doesn't know what to do. He just says: Go home and don't go to work.
That is not ``everything under control,'' Mr. President.
If any member of his administration tells the President something optimistic, he repeats it and usually exaggerates it. The disease will magically disappear when the weather gets warm; a vaccine will be ready soon--all misstatements from President Trump.
In a televised meeting with government health experts and pharmaceutical experts, the President repeatedly failed to comprehend that a vaccine would take over a year to develop and test. This is the President of the United States during a crisis. He doesn't even understand the basic rudiments of what is going on. He suggested blithely that we could just use the influenza vaccine for the coronavirus, and he was quickly corrected by Dr. Fauci, one of our health experts. Twenty-four hours later, the President was claiming that pharma executives would speed up the production of a vaccine as a
``favor'' to him.
President Trump, people are sick. People are dying. This virus is wreaking havoc on the economy, and you look at it as a favor to you? It is not about you, Mr. President; it is about America and the crisis and what our Federal Government is doing to help.
The President saying it was a favor to him, stating such blatant mistruths, was a shocking demonstration of just how little the President listens, how little the President learns, and how little leadership he shows at a time when we desperately need leadership.
During a public health crisis of this magnitude, we need steady and confident leadership from President Trump. So far, it has been totaling lacking--unfortunately for America.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, all postcloture time is expired.
The question occurs on agreeing to the motion to proceed.
Mr. SCHUMER. I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) and the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn).
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Jones), the Senator from Minnesota (Ms. Klobuchar), the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), and the Senator from Massachusetts (Ms. Warren) are necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 90, nays 4, as follows:
YEAS--90
AlexanderBaldwinBarrassoBennetBlumenthalBluntBookerBoozmanBraunBrownBurrCantwellCapitoCardinCarperCaseyCassidyCollinsCoonsCortez MastoCottonCramerCrapoCruzDainesDuckworthDurbinEnziErnstFeinsteinFischerGardnerGillibrandGrahamGrassleyHarrisHassanHawleyHeinrichHironoHoevenHyde-SmithInhofeJohnsonKaineKennedyKingLankfordLeahyLoefflerManchinMarkeyMcConnellMcSallyMenendezMerkleyMoranMurkowskiMurphyMurrayPerduePetersPortmanReedRischRobertsRomneyRosenRoundsRubioSasseSchumerScott (SC)ShaheenShelbySinemaSmithStabenowSullivanTesterThuneTillisToomeyUdallVan HollenWarnerWhitehouseWickerWydenYoung
NAYS--4
LeePaulSchatzScott (FL)
NOT VOTING--6
BlackburnCornynJonesKlobucharSandersWarren
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill.
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