These days, Congress can pontificate, prevaricate, obfuscate, and commemorate, but it does very little to legislate, other than to appropriate. Let me run through a quick list of issues, and then I'll be happy to answer any of your questions. The Subcommittee and full Committee chairs appear to have very different views of how to restructure the electric utility industry. I often hear parallels drawn between our deregulation of the telecommunications industry and the deregulation of electric utilities. But those parallels often overlook the fact that it took two decades to reach a consensus on telecommunications reform.
Electricity is a much tougher issue, with much greater capital investments at stake.
Further, electricity isn't an optional purchase on the order of satellite tv, or cable Internet access, or wireless phones. In summary, it's unlikely that we'll see significant legislation on this subject this Congress. The other major piece of energy legislation we've been working on for years is similarly troubled. Last week, the Senate failed to gain a veto-proof margin on its version of a nuclear waste bill. But the Senate bill addressed neither of these problems in its final form, and the Administration continues to hold out a veto threat.