WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Pete Domenici, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today issued the following statement regarding the Senate’s failure to invoke cloture on the House/Pelosi energy bill:

 

            “The outcome of today’s cloture vote is the right one for the Senate as an institution, for our nation’s energy policy, and for consumers.  I’m very pleased that my fellow Senators recognized that the process by which this bill was drafted was fundamentally unfair. 

 

            “The Speaker of the House violated an agreement made regarding the content of the energy bill.  In doing so, she squandered a perfect opportunity to pass strong CAFE (fuel economy) provisions and diversify our fuel supply.  By including a costly, one-size-fits-all Renewable Portfolio Standard, and a massive, $21 billion tax increase on domestic oil and gas production, the House turned what could have been the bipartisan legislation that the President requested in his State of the Union address into a partisan bill that would dramatically increase energy prices for consumers.

 

            “Now that we’ve rejected this one-sided bill, I hope that the Senate can now go back to the agreement that we originally reached with the House.  Much of the hard work has already been done.  An energy bill that contains a CAFE compromise, a strong Renewable Fuels Standard, and energy efficiency improvements is the right approach, and I’m willing to go back to work on such a bill right away.”

 

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