madam chairman , at a time of record-high energy prices , the growth of the economy is at risk , and it is critical that congress take the necessary steps to put in place a comprehensive energy policy .  the bill before us , frankly , is more limited in scope than i would prefer .  it is not as ambitious as i would like in creating market incentives to overhaul the energy side of our economy ; but , nevertheless , support of this bill is a critical first step for congress to move forward to meet the critical goal of an effective national energy policy .  its passage will set us on the right path by encouraging the creation of new technologies , by promoting renewable energy sources , by modernizing and expanding our energy infrastructure , including our power energy infrastructure , and encouraging conservation .  i believe we need to move forward on this bill .  it is long overdue and has been a priority of congress since this president came into office .  the time has come for us to pass an energy bill .  unfortunately , we have seen the vacancy of the debate today , the fact that we are not seeing an alternative being offered by the other side .  we have heard about new ideas from them , but all we have been offered is warmed-over rhetoric , and there is no technology available to us that could ever make good use of that .  please pass this legislation .  it is long overdue .  the time has come for us to put in place a national energy policy .  