The House named 45 conferees this morning. A list of House and Senate conferees can be found midway through this email. Below that list is the House language assigning various conferees to consider specific sections of the bill. The conference met for two hours today in Rayburn 2123 for opening remarks from attending conferees. The meeting opened shortly after 10 a.m. and closed shortly after noon. Chairman Domenici was named conference chair. Below please find a copy of Chairman Domenici’s opening remarks made in conference today. The conference will meet again at a future date subject to the call of the chair. In the meantime, staff discussions continue. Chairman Domenici Opening Statement September 5, 2003 The Conference Committee will come to order. Chairman Tauzin, Mr. Dingell, to all of the House conferees, Senator Bingaman, and to all of the Senate conferees, I am grateful that the opportunity to open this Conference Committee has finally arrived. Today, we are faced with both an opportunity and a burden. Our opportunity is to develop a new Energy Policy for the Nation. Our burden is to resolve the differences between the House and Senate and between Democrats and Republicans to reach that agreement. It is my desire that we reach agreement on a bipartisan Bill that can pass both Houses of Congress with comfortable margins. I want to assure my colleagues in both Houses and on both sides of the aisle that I want to conduct a conference in which all matters and all views are fully considered. With that said, I am also aware that we tried but could not complete a conference last year. Some have suggested to me that was the result not only of substantive disagreements but also of a cumbersome process. Frankly, I agree that there were too many multi-day meetings, too many offers and counter-offers instead of conferees and the staff simply sitting down, rolling up our sleeves and working it out. I am a Arolling up my sleeves up and working it out@ kind of person. I have had many conversations with Chairman Tauzin, and I believe there are no issues on which the two of us cannot reach agreement. I also believe that, just as it is the responsibility of the Chairman of a Committee to develop a Chairman=s mark and then seek its approval by a Committee, Chairman Tauzin and I and carry a special burden today to work with each other to present proposals for compromises to the conference as a whole B we plan to do that. He and I will work together to decide how many formal conference meetings are appropriate and when those meetings will occur and how best to work through the proposals. I have been asked if it is too soon after the black-out to now consider an Energy Bill. I know there are a lot of people who have suddenly become interested in electricity B but I and most of the conferees have been interested for decades. I believe both bills have made sound attempts to address these issues B which are not new B and those provisions will serve as the basis for appropriate legislation. With that said, I am not going to address substantive issues in my remarks today B I will save those remarks for when we get to each issue B except to say that I do believe we should reach agreement on a comprehensive Energy Bill B I do not support efforts to break it apart in a piecemeal fashion. I do hope to complete this conference this month. On my part, I have severely limited my remarks today because I want to make sure we hear from everyone. In order to accomplish that, I am going to enforce a 5-minute limit on statements and I ask for everyone=s cooperation. Please bear with me on this, even at only 5 minutes each, this could go on for more than 5 hours. List of House and Senate conferees: HOUSE (45) Energy and Commerce Mr. Tauzin (R-LA) Mr. Bilirakis (R-FL) Mr. Barton (R-TX) Mr. Upton (R-MI) Mr. Stearns (R-FL) Mr. Gillmor (R-OH) Mr. Shimkus (R-IN) Mr. Dingell (D-MI) Mr. Waxman (D-CA) Mr. Markey (D-MA) Mr. Boucher (D-VA) Mr. Rush (D-IL) Agriculture Mr. Goodlatte (R-VA) Mr. Lucas (R-OK) Mr. Stenholm (D-TX) Armed Services Mr. Hunter (R-CA) Mr. Weldon (R-PA) Mr. Skelton (D-MO) Education and Workforce Mr. McKeon (R-CA) Mr. Johnson (R-TX) Mr. George Miller (D-CA) Financial Services Mr. Oxley (R-OH) Mr. Ney (R-OH) Ms. Waters (D-CA) Government Reform Mr. Davis (R-VA) Mr. Murphy (R-PA) Mr. Tierney (D-MA) Judiciary Mr. Sensenbrenner (R-WI) Mr. Conyers (D-MI) Mr. Lamar Smith (R-TX) Resources Mr. Pombo (R-CA) Mrs. Cubin (R-WY) Mr. Rahall (D-WV) Mr. Kind (D-WI) Science Mr. Boehlert (R-NY) Ms. Biggert (R-IL) Mr. Hall (D-TX) Mr. Costello (D-IL) Mr. Lampson (D-TX) Transportation and Infrastructure Mr. Young (R-AK) Mr. Petri (R-WI) Mr. Oberstar (D-MN) Ways and Means Mr. Thomas (R-CA) Mr. McCrery (R-LA) Mr. Rangel (D-NY) SENATE (13) Mr. Domenici (R-NM) Mr. Nickles (R-OK) Mr. Craig (R-ID) Mr. Campbell (R-CO) Mr. Thomas (R-WY) Mr. Grassley (R-IA) Mr. Lott (R-MI) Mr. Bingaman (D-NM) Mr. Dorgan (D-ND) Mr. Graham (D-FL) Mr. Wyden (D-OR) Mr. Johnson (D-SD) Mr. Baucus (D-MT)