[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25160]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  ENERGY LEGISLATION: THE SENATE MUST JOIN THE HOUSE IN ACTING SWIFTLY

  The SPEAKER. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Connolly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Madam Speaker, despite rabid partisanship, 
this House of Representatives has successfully pursued a productive 
legislative agenda this year. Among many important bills, such as the 
expansion of children's health insurance and passage of economic 
recovery legislation, we passed the American Clean Energy and Security 
Act just this past June.
  This bill would reduce greenhouse gas pollution, create market 
incentives for investment in clean energy jobs, invest in green job 
training for workers, create incentives for farmers to sequester 
carbon, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and protect trade-
sensitive industries from highly polluting foreign competition.
  According to prominent economists, it would spur investments in 
technology that would further stimulate the economy right now.
  Since we passed this bill, a growing number of businesses such as 
Apple Computer, Exelon, Pacific Gas and Electric, Johnson & Johnson, 
Timberland, Nike, Dominion Virginia Power and so many others from 
diverse sectors of the economy have called on the United States Senate 
to act. Many of these businesses believe climate change legislation is 
so important to address for American business that they actually have 
withdrawn their membership or suspended their membership from various 
committees in the United States Chamber of Commerce to protest its 
policy of opposition to this legislation.
  Now that the House has passed this bill, the Senate too must act 
quickly to pass it so that the United States can take its rightful 
place as a leading voice in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas 
pollution.
  Despite widespread business support for the bill, some partisan 
interest groups vigorously opposed its passage, and I applaud my 
colleagues, especially those from the other side of the aisle who had 
the courage to support it, for overcoming the shrill dissent of 
powerful special interests. Because those same interest groups are 
preparing a campaign blitz focused on the U.S. Senate, it is an apt 
time to recall the discredited arguments that they will employ once 
again when attempting to defeat this bill.
  For example, the Republican leadership claims this bill will cost the 
American family $3,100 per year. Not true. The Republican leadership 
cited an MIT study when first releasing that cost estimate. In 
response, the MIT professor who wrote the study wrote the minority 
leader here in the House pointing out that his figure vastly 
overestimated costs by 1,000 percent.
  Moreover, the Republicans ignore a central feature of the bill to 
protect consumers. The American Clean Energy and Security Act 
distributes carbon allowances to the companies or cooperatives from 
which Americans buy electricity. And by law, the bill says that they 
have to use those allowances to protect consumers from any price 
increases.
  Our Republican colleagues also ignore the impact new efficiencies 
will have on electric bills. The House Energy bill will improve 
building codes by 30 percent, establish new efficiency standards for 
appliances and invest billions of dollars in home weatherization and 
efficiency programs. As a result, consumers will see a reduction in 
their electric bills as they consume less electricity. According to the 
nonpartisan American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, those 
savings will average $750 per household when the bill is fully 
implemented.
  Another common refrain from the opposition is that a cap-and-trade 
system is new, complicated and unworkable. As my colleagues will 
recall, it was a cap-and-trade system that allowed us to successfully 
stop the expansion of the ozone hole by reducing CFC pollution, and we 
cut acid rain and smog pollution by reducing emissions from coal-fired 
power plants with a cap-and-trade program in the 1990s. At the time, 
those same voices claiming that this would kill the economy said the 
same thing. And yet in the 1990s, we saw some of the most rapid 
expansion of economic growth in U.S. history.
  Madam Speaker, scientists are observing more rapid climate change 
than their models anticipated. We do not have the luxury of inaction or 
delay. Moreover, the welfare of our economy demands that America lead 
in the clean energy revolution. We cannot allow China, Spain and other 
nations to profit from the construction of wind turbines, solar, 
advanced batteries and the like while Americans lose their jobs. Now is 
the time for the U.S. Senate to join us here in the House in passing a 
vibrant, clean energy bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, jump-
start our economy and lessen our reliance on foreign oil.

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