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Leadership. Character. Commitment. |
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Remarks by U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd |
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November 20, 2003 |
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A National Energy Policy -- A Lost Opportunity |
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Senator Byrd delivered the following remarks as the Senate debated the conference report on the National Energy Policy Act.
enators have before us the long-awaited energy bill. For the more than three years of its making, we have been led to believe that this was to be the piece
of legislation that would go a long way toward solving our nation's energy problems. But instead of providing for our nation's energy security and stability, this bill does little more than codify backroom bargaining, underwrite the
Administration's corporate contributors, and further deepen our deficit ditch. This bill is a monstrosity of gifts for special interests. Its passage will mean another lost opportunity to shore up our nation's energy security,
provide for future economic growth, and protect consumer interests. The White House and Republican advocates may argue that this bill is national, comprehensive, and
strategic. It is not. Advocates argue that this is a premiere jobs bill, and hundreds of thousands of new jobs will be magically created because of the pixy dust that is sprinkled throughout this bill. But these are empty
assertions. This energy bill will be neither an economic shot in the arm nor a jobs booster. The White House and its secretive energy task force have done their utmost to dictate the terms of energy legislation for more
than three years, and this energy conference bill is that dismal result. Republican energy bill negotiators took a page out of the Vice President's play book by not undertaking their deliberations in an open, transparent, and
bipartisan manner. When well-placed corporate heads have a greater voice at the conference table than the minority members of Congress we have truly sold our nation's energy policy to the highest bidder. This conference was a
shameful example of how the big-monied interests who are pals of this Administration continue to elbow out the best interests of the American people. The American people should also know that the White House and Republican
proponents, who have so often avowed the free market system and fiscal responsibility, are essentially ignoring those policies in this bill today. During the deliberations on energy legislation, the White House raised concerns about
unrealistic authorizations and indicated its support for only $8 billion in tax incentives, but now the Bush administration wholeheartedly welcomes and strongly supports this bill regardless of its budgetary impacts. The Congressional
Budget Office estimates that the deficit will be deepened to the tune of $25.7 billion because of mandatory spending and unbalanced tax incentives. This energy bill, like so many other bills that Congress has passed, is another empty
promise, and the White House's only major goal is to tick off a campaign pledge regardless of its contents or lack thereof. Furthermore, this bill is replete with unrealistic new authorizations that go far beyond the reality
of our limited and shrinking budgetary resources. Passage of this bill is far from a guarantee that the money will flow. How many authorization bills have been passed during the tenure of this Administration pledging huge sums
of monies that never came into being? How easy it is to vote to authorize funding, to make a splash in the headlines and raise hopes about the funds that will flow from Washington. But when it comes to actually putting the money
in the budget and supporting the promised funding levels in the appropriations bills, this Administration jumps ship again, and again, and again. One need only look at the "No Child Left Behind" program to see how this game
of bait and switch is played. What complicates the matter further is the number of new programs that have been created in this bill. In a perfect world, I would like nothing better than to be able to support a plethora
of energy programs that truly advance our nation's ability to produce and use energy more cleanly and efficiently. But, realistically, this legislation only creates more programs that will have to compete for the same pot of
money. Instead of focusing on our nation's highest energy priority needs, longstanding programs -- programs that are working -- could well be severely fractured and diluted for years to come. That is not progress. In the
end, this bill will just be another empty soapbox for the President to stand upon even though the necessary resources to carry out our energy programs will never materialize. I certainly recognize that there are several
important and useful provisions that have been included in this legislation, including a number of specific clean coal programs which I have supported. These and several other provisions have had bipartisan support in the Senate in
both the 107th and 108th Congresses. Yet, in the aggregate, this bill will not help us achieve our energy, economic, and environmental goals and, in many cases, creates even bigger problems down the road. I have long advocated
developing a complementary approach toward our energy and environmental policy. Yet, I have serious concerns about this bill's liability waivers, exemptions and alterations to longstanding environmental laws, and limited consumer
protection provisions. Furthermore, like several major tax cut bills and the Homeland Security legislation, special deals have been stuffed into the nooks and crannies of this bill.
Yet some of the matters that rightfully should have been dealt with in this legislation are glaringly absent. I speak, for example, of the coal miners Combined Benefit Fund. Nearly 50,000 retired coal miners and their dependents
are facing an imminent crisis. These miners, who live in every state, are in danger of having their health care benefits cut due to a financial emergency in the fund, created by law, to pay those benefits. These are elderly men
and women. In fact, most of them are elderly widows, who are truly among America's most vulnerable citizens. Yet, among all the billions of dollars to help oodles of special, corporate interests in this bill, I find not a penny
-- not one penny -- to help these elderly Americans. For the past two years, I have provided relief to that fund through several appropriations transfers of funds -- transfers that did not cost any state any money to clean up
its abandoned mine lands. Yet, these retirees and their dependents, many of them in frail health, are being held hostage in some cold-hearted game of chicken. There was a chance in this bill to help them, to provide a fix for the
program that Congress designed to fulfill our promise to them. But the conferees failed to make that fix. The effort was killed by too many greedy hands grabbing for their own piece of the pie. I hope that the House and
Senate committees of jurisdiction will act next year to ensure that our government keeps its promise to these retired miners. Certainly, compassion for the old and the sick should prevail over greed. It pains me to
conclude that this energy conference report, in its totality, does not fully integrate four fundamental principles of good energy policy: energy security, fiscal soundness, consumer protection, and environmental balance. Despite its
rhetoric, this White House's lip service and corporate coddling have been the sum total of its energy policy. It began with the Vice President's National Energy Policy plan and concluded with exclusion of Democrats from the energy
conference. As the sun begins to shine on this leviathan, I hope that Americans will understand that this energy bill will do little to resolve our energy problems, and if it passes, it could very well turn out to be a Pandora's
Box. This legislation comes to us at the end of a session, and the Republican majority is attempting to serve up this elaborate and expensive dessert. But these are just empty calories -- a delicious photo
opportunity for the President, rich filling for industry lobbyists, but in the end, only empty calories and heartburn for the American taxpayers. Sadly, when all is said and done, the American people will continue to stand in the
bread line, hungry for a comprehensive, national energy strategy. ### |
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