“We live in a world that is being poisoned by greenhouse gases of our own making.
  Without dramatic action, we face irreversible, catastrophic climate change.
 
Some choose to ignore the facts and some choose to delay but I choose to act.
  We face the most compelling energy challenge of our time, and I believe that the American people are ready to meet that challenge.
 

”
Our energy independence, our national security, and our fragile environment hang in the balance.
  Guided by strong science, we have crafted a bill that will transform our energy economy.
  Instead of relying on oil imports from countries that do not share our values, we will tap our reserves of natural gas, build renewable energy sources like wind and solar, and increase our output of nuclear power.
  We will invest in new technologies like Smart Grid networks that will conserve energy, create more than a million new green energy jobs, and save American consumers billions.
 

“Other nations are moving forward. Other nations understand that this is going to be a win for their economy and they want to take advantage of it. They are using our technology to create jobs that should be created here in America.
        It’s time we invest in our own country.

”
We will invest in public transportation.
  If we can get just 10 percent of the American workforce to take public transportation, we would reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 40%.
  This legislation gives us the tools to meet that goal. In the Washington Metropolitan area, people want to use transit more. We need to modernize our transit system and we will get people off the roads. We save oil and we will save our environment. The time to act is now.”

In response to Senator Voinovich’s comments on behalf of his fellow Republicans who did not attend today’s markup session:

“I am disappointed. I think that if my Republican colleagues were here offering their amendments that we’d have a good debate and reach decisions. Quite frankly, I think we might end up with a better bill, so I’m somewhat puzzled by the tack that they are taking.”