Washington - Today, the landmark Energy Bill (H.R. 6), which passed the House yesterday, was blocked by Senate Republicans from proceeding to a final vote. The Republicans forced a 60-vote threshold to proceed, but the motion to invoke cloture received 53 votes.
Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee who championed several provisions in the bill including energy efficiency block grants for cities, today released the following statement:
"We face a perfect storm on energy - a perfectly ominous storm. Our security is threatened by our reliance on foreign oil, our economy and worldwide stability are vulnerable because of oil prices approaching $100 a barrel, and our planet is warming because of rising greenhouse gas emissions. This energy bill contains the type of bold and innovative ideas that will help combat these problems, and yet the Republican Party would rather protect oil companies than serve the American people. This kind of obstructionism is intolerable and irresponsible.
"Ideas like making our cars cleaner, minimizing our dependence on oil, reducing coal power plant emissions and developing the type of green technology that we desperately need are how we help our nation and the world begin to get out of this predicament. I have whole-heartedly supported and helped to generate these ideas, from the committee to the Senate floor, and I will continue to stand up for an energy bill that seriously addresses climate change."
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