[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 106 (Friday, July 15, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1339-E1340]
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. JAMES R. LANGEVIN

                            of rhode island

                    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. LANGEVIN. Mr. Chair, I rise to express my strong disappointment 
with the FY2012 Energy and Water Appropriations bill. As our Nation 
struggles to recover from the economic recession that has kept 
unemployment above 10 percent in my home State of Rhode Island, one 
message I hear over and over again from constituents and economists is 
the need to invest in new industries, including manufacturing, while 
addressing our reliance on foreign and dirty sources of energy. During 
this time of economic uncertainty, we have an opportunity to create new 
industry while working to build up and stabilize clean, domestic 
sources of energy.
  Unfortunately, this effort will be slowed because of the draconian 
cuts in this bill, including a 27 percent cut to energy efficiency and 
renewable energy research programs, which means cuts to solar energy, 
fuel efficiency investments, and research to improve energy efficiency 
in our buildings, which account for 40 percent of all U.S. energy use.
  Next week, I am holding a roundtable to hear from one of Rhode 
Island's leading renewable energy companies, Alteris, as well as 
students and faculty from the University of Rhode Island's Energy 
Center, because I want my State and our Nation to be capitalizing on 
every opportunity to invest in the energy jobs of the future. Our 
budget savings should come by ending the subsidies for big oil 
companies that don't need them, not by harming up-and-coming businesses 
like Alteris that can create sustainable job growth.
  I am also particularly concerned with cuts to weatherization 
programs, which have helped to reduce energy bills by one-third for 
low-income families in Rhode Island. Further, this bill rescinds 
critical funding to modernize and build our Nation's high speed rail 
system, including investment in the Northeast Corridor and Rhode 
Island. Construction of high speed rail will not only create jobs 
immediately, but the expansion of our infrastructure will create new 
opportunities for growth in our communities across the region.
  Another disappointing provision in this bill is the $123 million cut 
to the National Nuclear Security Administration's, NNSA's, contribution 
to our naval reactors work. This funding decrease jeopardizes what the 
Navy has called ``the nation's only day-to-day assured nuclear response 
capability,'' our ballistic missile submarines. Defense strategist 
Loren Thompson recently noted the vital need for our ballistic 
submarine force stating, ``Today, about half of the warheads in the 
nuclear arsenal are carried on 14 Ohio-class submarines that are nearly 
impossible to find much less target. . . . the reason each sub needs to 
be so fearsome is that deterrence depends on what's left after an enemy 
attacks, since the threat of retaliation is what deters the attack in 
the first place.''
  These subs are already at the end of their lifespan, but due to 
refueling and modernization efforts, they will stay in the fleet for 
another decade. This sounds like a long time until you consider that it 
takes nearly two decades to design, build, and test a successor ship 
through the SSBN(X) Ohio replacement program. Design work for the 
SSBN(X) is finishing this October, leading to an incredibly tight 
schedule which according to CRS could result in a smaller force than is 
necessary to continue our nuclear deterrent. We need this ship to come 
in on time and on budget for the

[[Page E1340]]

sake of global nuclear security, and the cuts to naval reactors in this 
bill directly threaten our future national security.
  Mr. Chair, our Nation is facing too many challenges at home and 
abroad to afford such cuts to critical investments in our energy future 
and important nuclear deterrent programs, while at the same time 
increasing funding for the Fossil Energy Research and Development 
program. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill and reinvest in those 
programs that look to our future, rather than relying on outdated 
technologies of our past.

                          ____________________