The two Houses of Parliament will jointly form a delegation for a visit to China early next year in a bid to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China's legislature.

Then House-Senate conferees will need to look more closely at whether more frequent inspections are warranted and whether sufficient money can be found to pay for them.

We have gone from 46 percent dependence [on foreign oil] when the Republicans took over the House and Senate in 1995 to 61 percent dependence on imported oil today.