Remarks on Signing the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974

I would like to say, as we put that piece of legislation in the box, that as you know, there are 17 major proposals that I have sent to the Congress in the field of energy. Two now have been passed, the Alaska pipeline and the Federal Energy Administration, a very important bill, now an act, which you gentlemen are responsible for passing.

The Nation is in your debt for all the hard work, the compromise which brought forth a very responsible piece of legislation, and I express that appreciation to you. And of course, we will also appreciate any further action that can be taken on the other energy' measures which you, in your judgment, in a bipartisan atmosphere, deem fit to be in the best interest of the country.

We have here, of course, Bill Simon, who tomorrow will leave the--well, not his interest in energy, because he is going to have to have a lot of energy over in the Treasury Department but he is going to leave that particular position, and we have Mr. Sawhill who will replace him.

But, Bill, this is your, shall we say, swan song, but I hope you can move faster than a swan in your new position.

And it is a very, I think, appropriate occasion that we have this measure now passed so that our new energy director, Mr. Sawhill, will have the tools to do the job in the various areas.

Do you want to say something, Chet? We will recognize the House first, because you have been here a little longer than Abe has.

REPRESENTATIVE CHET HOLIFIELD. Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to say that as chairman of the committee, we want to express our appreciation for the help that the Administration gave us-Mr. Simon and the other witnesses that came up--and also some of their staff that helped us to work out the problems in the bill.

We think we have a good bill here, and we are proud of it, and we hope that it will serve the purpose.

THE PRESIDENT. Abe.

SENATOR ABRAHAM A. RIBICOFF. Mr. President, I think this is the best example of the executive and legislative branches working together. I predict we will be giving you ERDA [Energy Research and Development Administration] within a month, and you will have two keystones to make the United States independent in the entire field of all sources of energy. And I hope we can continue this cooperation in the entire energy field in the future.

THE PRESIDENT. Will the ERDA bill be a good one?

SENATOR RIBICOFF. Yes, the ERDA bill is going to be a very good one, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT. Would you recommend that I sign it?

SENATOR RIBICOFF. I certainly do.

THE PRESIDENT. Gentlemen, thank you very much.