Mr. President, I think we saw from the vote earlier today, we've seen from statements from several of our colleagues that it does appear that Judge K… - Lisa Murkowski

So, as we move forward in this very difficult time I think for this body and for this country I want to urge us to a place where we are able to engage in that civil discourse which is what the Senate is supposed to be all about, that we are able to show respect for one another's views and differences, and that when a hard vote is taken, that there is a level of respect for the decision that each of us makes. And there's another thing that I do hope, and again, I'll refer to my friend from Maine, and I will note, if there has been a silver lining in these bitter, bitter weeks, which quite honestly remains to be seen, I do think what we have seen is a recognition by both sides, a recognition by both sides that we must do more to protect and prevent sexual assault and to help the victims of these assaults. There has been a national discussion. There has been an outpouring of discussion, conversation, fears, tears, frustration, and rage. There's an emotion that really has been unleashed in these recent weeks, and these are discussions that we need to have as a country. We need to have these as a country. We need to bring these survivors to a place where they feel that they can heal. But until you come out of the shadow and do so without shame, it's pretty hard to heal.

U.S. crude oil production fell from an average high of 12.2 million barrels per day in 2019 to an average of 11.3 million in 2020. According to the Energy Information Administration, this loss in domestic production will return the United States to being a net petroleum importer in 2021 and 2022. By all accounts, a sizable chunk of this will come from Russia. What is going to happen is, we are going to move from this position where we have been in these past few years where we have had some real energy security here because we have been producing, and we have been producing to the point that we have been able to even supply to our friends and allies. But now, with policies that are taking us in a different direction and still knowing that we need the resource, we are turning to Russia.

Effectively, what happened then was a year of good, strong committee work by the Energy Committee is now being held hostage in a fight in another committee. I have been patient with this, but I would remind colleagues that we are not getting any more extra legislative days being added. The clock is ticking here. This is a matter that, again, when this came before us while we were on this floor trying to work out the last of the amendments, this came up at the last minute, and we were promised a resolution at that time. We will have this fixed in a month. Well, it has been over 3 months now since this became an issue. Again, we have lost valuable time. This issue from the EPW Committee is holding back a strong, bipartisan bill that would allow us to modernize our Nation's energy policies for the first time in more than a dozen years. In a week where I have certainly been reminded about the importance of energy and, again, heard good, strong support for our energy bill, I would tell my colleagues that we need to redouble our efforts on this to advance this bill. We need to unlock this energy bill, which is a good bill that is ready to go, from the complications that have been created within another committee.