[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 102 (Monday, July 11, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1281]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2012

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. MICHAEL M. HONDA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, July 8, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2354) making 
     appropriations for energy and water development and related 
     agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2012, and 
     for other purposes:

  Mr. HONDA. Mr. Chair, the Energy and Water Development Appropriations 
bill is yet another glaring example of the flawed nature of the 
Republican budget. To try to meet their unrealistic goal of reducing 
the deficit solely through domestic non-defense discretionary spending 
cuts, Republicans are proposing to make crippling cuts to our national 
investment in improving energy efficiency and the development of 
renewable energy sources.
  These cuts will only serve to make our Nation more dependent on the 
coal, oil, and gas interests that own the Republican Party and more 
dependent on importing our energy from insecure foreign sources. 
Meanwhile, our global competitors recognize that this is an area in 
which there are many gains to be made and they are investing heavily to 
develop their own renewable resources and promote domestic economic and 
job growth.
  Investment in clean energy is much more cost effective than continued 
giveaways to the oil and gas industry--the Commerce Department has 
found that clean energy generates 17 jobs for every $1 million spent on 
it, compared to just 5 jobs for every $1 million we throw at an oil and 
gas industry that doesn't need subsidies but continues to fight for 
subsidies and tax breaks.
  As a representative from Silicon Valley, I hear every day from the 
companies in and around my district about how renewable energy sources 
like solar, wind, fuel cells, and hydrokinetic are the wave of the 
future. To reach their full potential, these sources must be enabled by 
basic science underlying new energy technologies, by the development of 
advanced batteries for electricity storage and through improved energy 
efficiency across the board, through solid state lighting technologies, 
building technologies, and smarter electronic devices that know when to 
reduce their energy consumption.
  These fields are where the jobs are--WIRED magazine asked the 
professional networking service LinkedIn to survey its members who have 
switched industries in the last 5 years, and what it found was that the 
growth in Renewables and the Environment was 56.8 percent, far more 
than any other. The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, an organization of 
influential high-tech CEOs, includes ``greater deployment of clean 
energy and clean technology coupled with investments in energy 
efficiency'' in its federal policy agenda, because they know it ``will 
contribute to this objective [energy independence] while generating 
hundreds of thousands of new, sustainable jobs here in the United 
States.''
  Sadly, this Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill does not 
reflect these important priorities. Instead, it provides only $1.3 
billion for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs, 27 percent 
below the current funding level and 59 percent below the President's 
Budget Request. Funding is slashed for many activities: solar energy, 
64 percent below the President's request; fuel efficient vehicle 
technologies, 57 percent below the President's request; building 
technologies, 68 percent below the President's request; biomass and 
bio-refinery research and development, 56 percent below the President's 
request; home weatherization assistance, nearly 90 percent below the 
President's request; and the Advanced Research Projects Agency--Energy, 
82 percent below the President's request.
  The unrealistic Republican budget has left us with an allocation for 
this bill that is too small for our Nation's needs, and too small to 
offer meaningful amendments to improve these woefully inadequate 
funding levels. To make matters worse, Republicans have been so driven 
by ideology that they required the chairman to include an offset in 
this bill for emergency spending to deal with recovery from the storms 
and flooding along the Mississippi River, an offset that would gut our 
national investment in High Speed Rail. This requirement marks yet 
another way in which this Energy and Water Development bill would take 
our Nation backwards, away from achieving a sustainable future.
  We need to do better than this bill. We need to aggressively pursue 
clean energy while we still have control of the game, before it is too 
late and our climate has changed forever, we are running out of oil, 
and we are running out of time. Silicon Valley is ready to lead, we 
just need the rest of the Nation to join us. I oppose this bill because 
it fails our Nation.

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