BUSH'S FY06 BUDGET REQUEST LAYS IMPORTANT FOUNDATION FOR SENATE WORK ON ENERGY BILL

February 7, 2005
12:00 AM
Washington, D.C. – Senate Energy & Natural Resources Chairman Pete V. Domenici today issued the following statement regarding President Bush’s FY 2006 Budget Request for programs and agencies under the committee’s jurisdiction. Chairman Domenici’s statement: “President Bush called for an energy bill in his State of the Union address last week. As he promised in that speech, the President today sent to Congress a budget that provides for increased domestic production of oil, more renewable energy and the development of clean-coal technologies and hydrogen-powered cars. “Now, Congress must pass an energy bill that incorporates those initiatives and more. We must pass a bill that expands our use of clean and safe nuclear power and modernizes our electricity grid, as the President urged in his speech last week. I agree with President Bush. Four years of debate is indeed enough. It’s time to pass an energy bill. “I am not happy with every aspect of the President’s budget request. I think the push to make Power Marketing Administrations charge market-based rates is politically untenable. Every once in awhile, administrations of either party come up with this idea and I won’t support it. “But this budget lays an important foundation for our energy bill work. I continue to meet with Republicans and Democrats on the energy committee to craft a bipartisan energy bill we can pass through the Senate this year.”