Lamar Alexander:new jobs come in. it is how we deal with climate change they have the coal-fired power plants. it's how we deal with large amounts of electricity at a low cost. that has to do with jobs. and it has

Lamar Alexander:to do with gas prices as well. nissan, toyota, general motors, are all about to sell us plug-in hybrids that could by some estimates reduce the amount of gasoline that we use by up to one-third. that

Lamar Alexander:would deal with gas prices, but who will supply the electricity for the plug-in hybrid? the tennessee authority. so what happens? the democratic leader locks up two of our best players an won't

Lamar Alexander:let them play in the biggest game we've got. if he did that to two of our memphis basketball players or lady vols or bruce perles players, there would be a revolt in tennessee. i hope there will be. here's

Lamar Alexander:what happened, in 2004, after several years of debate, we created a new board for the nation's largest public ewe tilty, the tennessee valley authority. the president appointed nine members, they were

Lamar Alexander:unanimously approved. two had short terms, our -- we brought them to the floor, they are ready for approval. ready to go to work. but the democratic leader has sent me a letter that i ask unanimous

Lamar Alexander:consent to put in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, it will be included in the record. mr. alexander: i thank the chair. basically he say that's will he not allow them to be confirmed because

Lamar Alexander:they're republicans. that asounds me. it overturns 57 years of federal law and cuss tomorrow. since -- custom. since 1933 federal law has never made politics one of the considerations for t.v.a. appointment.

Lamar Alexander:most presidents appointed members of their own party, sometimes political independents. such as william grays, one one of the two who is being locked up is appointed by president. bishop graves

Lamar Alexander:is not even a republican. he is the most experienced member of the t.v.a. board coming from the largest customer, memphis fight, gas and water, he is the largest bishop of one of t largest denominations

Lamar Alexander:in america. i sent a letter to the majority leader with respect. i ask consent that it is put in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: i said this is an insult to memphis.

Lamar Alexander:bishop graves is the first to be on the t.v.a. board. it is an affront to the african-americans in our region. bishop graves is the first african-american to be on the t.v.a. board. at a time when there's

Lamar Alexander:a stream of democratic senators coming to the floor trying to find somebody to blame for high gas prices, why is the majority leader looking up two of the most valuable players on our team whose job

Lamar Alexander:it is is to deal with high gas prices, high electric prices, clean air, an national security. i respectfully suggest that the majority leader, for whom i have the greatest respect, lift this roadblock,

Lamar Alexander:sop changing law and custom. unlock our two players and let them out and let them into the game against gas prices and let them go to work. this is the disheartening playpen partisan politics, it

Lamar Alexander:disappoints the american people and causes them to cry out for changing the way that we do business in washington. i thank the chair and yield the floor. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer:

Lamar Alexander:the senator from tennessee is recognized. a senator: madam president, it is always an honor to be in the presence of the senior senator from tennessee who does such an outstanding job in this body by

Bob Corker:promoting bipartisan and, madam president, has certainly played a big role in that and i thank you for that. mr. corker: and i just want to say i came here, like you, to solve big problems for our

Bob Corker:country in a bipartisan way. and i just left a meeting that i think exemplifies that to the highest level. where ron wyden and bob bennett cosponsoring a great piece of legislation in a bipartisan way to

Bob Corker:solve the tremendous health care crisis that our country is dealing with today. i'm really proud to be part of that and to join them and n- a bipartisan way to -- join them in a bipartisan way to solve

Bob Corker:the problem. i know that many of us are doing the same things to focus on the energy issues that are before us as a country. thansd what i came here to -- and that's why i came here to the united

Bob Corker:states senate to do, and i know that's the reason why you, madam president, came to the united states senate. and that's why today -- that's why today i rise with tremendous frustration over the

Bob Corker:actions of our majority leader. i've enjoyed working with our majority leader and he certainly has done a good job in many instances, but today strictly on a politically motivated basis in a letter to the

Bob Corker:senior senator stating that he is not going to confirm t.v.a. appointees. because they -- they are not democrats. madam president, we went through a tremendous amount of effort, or this body did prior to

Bob Corker:me being here, to make sure that the t.v.a. board was a professional board. that people there were able to make decisions in the best interest of that body and all of the many people that are served

Bob Corker:by the t.v.a. facilities. these two nominees are outstanding human beings. they have served their state, theirities, and our country with great distinguish. bishop graves is someone who just recently

Bob Corker:was heralded here in washington because of his tremendous leadership on making sure that the racial divides that have been a part of our country were swept away. susan williams has done the -- has

Bob Corker:done the same -- has been a leader in many other ways in business and both of them have helped shepherd t.v.a. through, i think, sopping of the finest years that t.v.a. had has -- some of the finest years

Bob Corker:that t.v.a. has it. both of these are reappointments. that is, they both served as part of the t.v.a. board. which has been expanded geographically to bring in other states, which is a very, very,

Bob Corker:very good things, from the standpoint of board representation. both of these members were approved unanimously by e.p.w., again, a bipartisan effort. which i might say is also controlled by the democratic party.

Bob Corker:and so i have to tell you while it is frustrating for me to see this body become a proxy in some cases for the presidential races and i hate to see some of the things that we deal with as a result.

Bob Corker:and that diminishes this body -- that body. i will tell you that our leader taking this position is a tremendous disservice to this body. diminishes this body. and i hope that the leader will come

Bob Corker:to his senses, will realize that not only has he -- is he doing something that is a tremendous -- is of tremendous harm to t.v.a., it damages this body for the majority leader to act in such a politically

Bob Corker:motivated -- motivated way. i hope that very soon these nominees will be reappointed. i hope that t.v.a. can get about its business in serving the people of tennessee and other surrounding states

Bob Corker:in a proper way. and, madam president, i thank you for this time. i hope that the majority leader, again, will do the right thing, will cause these nominees to come to the floor. i'm sure that they

Bob Corker:will be unanimously confirmed if they are. i notice the absence of a quorum, and i thank you for the time to be able to speak. the presiding officer: thank you. the clerk will call the roll. quorum

Mel Martinez:call: ~ theatrically quorum call: a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida is recognized. a senator: thank you, madam president. i'd ask that the quorum call be suspended.

Mel Martinez:the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. martinez: madam president, we are facing a real problem as americans increasingly go to the gas pump to fill their needs of energy for their vehicles,

Mel Martinez:and they find that the prices at the pump are ever higher, more onerous, and makes a family budget more difficult to make ends meet. this is a real problem to working families. this is a real problem

Mel Martinez:to the typical american family trying to drive children to school, to carpools, to activities. it hits everyone at a time when other economic problems are surrounding the american family. we have a

Mel Martinez:problem, and we have to act. failure to act is not an option. and so at this point in time, we cannot offer immediate solutions, but we have to recognize where we are. we have to recognize what hasn't

Mel Martinez:happened. i recall -- in fact, many days sitting where the presiding officer sits today, and our party was in the majority, and the democrats would come to the floor and talk about how if they were in power,

Mel Martinez:if only they who were not in cahoots with the big oil companies were in power, that then things would be better. and that in fact they would find a way to make things better. and so there was a

Mel Martinez:bold announcement made by then-house minority leader nancy pelosi on april 24, 2006, "democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing prices." now, that is when prices were tipping

Mel Martinez:at $3 a gallon. they were two-something a gallon. wish today that we were back to those moments in time. so a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices. i would ask today where

Mel Martinez:is the plan? what happened to that plan? democrats came into power, came into office to lead both houses of the congress on january 4 of the year 2007. the distinguished senator from minnesota proudly

Mel Martinez:took her oath. many others came into office. and at that point in time the price of gas was $2.33 a gallon. today it is $3.62 a gallon. is this what the commonsense plan to bring down prices was going

Mel Martinez:to bring us? is this why someone had a plan that was going to in fact help america. has it helped us? have we gone up or down? the fact is today prices are $3.62. so what we should do is have some

Mel Martinez:plain talk. the fact of the matter is that it didn't matter who was in control in congress because the laws of economics go well above the laws in politics. this is about supply and demand. the

Mel Martinez:fact is there is not a commonsense plan. the fact is that there is no plan, that america's energy policy continues to flounder for several reasons. and so we have to act. we have to act as responsible

Mel Martinez:leaders. one of the things that is inevitable is that as long as supply and demand stay where they are today with demand ever increasing and supply topping out, that we will continue to have increasing

Mel Martinez:prices. so i would submit that part of what has to occur is that we have to increase production. we have to find ways that we can within our own borders produce more energy. i have been supportive

Mel Martinez:of drilling in 2,000 acres in the vast willed necessary in -- vast wilderness in alaska in a way that would be safe. if it had been done when president clinton vetoed it today a million barrels a

Mel Martinez:day would be flowing into production and would help with the supply problem we have today. there may be other safe ways. a year or so ago we made an agreement. we made a deal, and the deal was that

Mel Martinez:we would drill safely in areas well away fr the florida coast in the gulf of mexico, eight million acres for new drilling that are also available, that will produce oil and gas. these are helpful

Mel Martinez:sps, but they're not enough. we have to also conserve. we've got to find ways that we can encourage the american public to conserve at the pump, to save b carpooling, to save by finding a way of buying

Mel Martinez:more energy-efficient vehicles. we as a government should be helping american consumers through our tax system to find a way that they can purchase vehicles that are more energy-efficient. we know that