The Black Hills Pioneer publishes a letter by Tom Daschle today under the headline "Removing Protections for Polluters in Energy Bill Will Boost Ethanol Production." Excerpt:
Some say that the energy bill would have become law if two more senators had voted to end debate, but that is not the case. One of the leaders of the opposition, Senator Gregg recently announced, "We actually had a lot more than six [Republican votes]...If they had won the cloture motion, we would have killed the bill on a point of order [CQ Today, 11/26/03, p. 12]."
But what about the comments of Senator Chuck Grassley regarding Daschle's failure to deliver on ethanol? Grassley takes a back seat to no one in being a champion for ethanol, and said the following:
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who often is complimented by Sen. Daschle for bipartisan work on legislative measures, said the Senate vote "was plain and simple a Democrat filibuster. This bill could pass if Democrat leaders would help. The Democratic leadership has clout, and if he had tried, Sen. Daschle could have gotten a few more votes for ethanol. Only 13 Democrats voted to stop filibuster. That's hardly more than one-fourth. But almost 90 percent of Republicans voted to stop the filibuster."
Grassley also had this to say:
“If a Democrat leader can deliver 46 out of 49 votes to keep the president’s good judges from being approved,” Grassley said, “he surely ought to be able to deliver 15 out of 49 votes for the energy bill when it’s so important to South Dakota.”
Also, see this.
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