[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 21]
[House]
[Pages 28030-28037]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY FOR THE FUTURE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Kosmas). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 6, 2009, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. TONKO. Madam Speaker, we're going to utilize our 60 minutes this 
evening on the floor so as to have Democrats speak to jobs as they 
relate to this energy rethinking so that we can address the energy 
reforms that are essential for the strengthening of this Nation, to 
embrace our intellectual capacity, and to provide opportunities in job 
growth by promoting a strong sense of energy security, enhancing our 
energy independence, and therefore addressing favorably, Madam Speaker, 
our national security. All of these fine dynamics are met as we think 
outside the barrel, if you will, on energy policy.
  How do we create these jobs? Well, there is just a sampling in the 
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that, when passed in early 
February, spoke to the creation of a half million jobs. That will now 
be invested through the Department of Energy, other resources, other 
agencies on the Federal level of government to make certain that we 
grow these opportunities through research and development investment, 
through energy efficiency, through renewables that are available 
through wind, solar, and the Earth, through geothermal; making certain 
that we can go forward with a progressive agenda so as to speak to a 
cleaning up of the environment and the security strengthener for the 
American economy by growing less reliant on fossil-based fuels. That 
gluttonous dependency that this Nation has on those fossil-based fuels 
is driving down our economy, and we have the potential here to enter a 
clean energy race, a global energy race, and win that race.
  I am joined this evening, Madam Speaker, by two of our colleagues who 
have asked to participate so as to insert their thinking and to share 
their enthusiasm with the American audience and those here in the House 
about the job potential as it relates to energy reforming and energy 
transformation. We're joined by Representative Jay Inslee from the 
State of Washington, the First District of the State of Washington, and 
we're also joined by Representative Ben Lujan from the Third District 
in the State of New Mexico. Both are outstanding Representatives as it 
comes to energy transformation but also outspoken voices about job 
creation, job retention as it relates to energy policy.
  Representative Inslee, because we are all, the three of us, partners 
in this new developed SEEC, the coalition that is provided for a 
Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, a group that has brought 
together soundness of thinking and the advancement of progressive 
policy. You serve as a cochair of that panel on which both 
Representative Lujan and I serve. And so this evening if you would just 
share your comments with us about job potential as it relates to energy 
as an arena.
  Mr. INSLEE. Well, with 10 percent unemployment, we know this country 
needs to act and we need to act quickly, and we need to act quickly in 
the job front of jobs that just won't be temporary and just won't be 
make-work jobs but will be part of the transition of our Nation to a 
Nation that can lead the world in the clean energy economy of the 
future. And we know that we have to get in that race for those jobs 
right now. We have bills pending, as we have already passed in the 
House the energy bill, which is now pending in the other Chamber; the 
stimulus bill, which is still in the process of being implemented; and 
we may have another bill on the floor of this House within the next 
month. All three of those bills are ways that we can jump-start the job 
growth in this economy by putting people to work on the jobs that are 
going to be the long-term jobs.
  I want to note something. Our President was in China yesterday. I 
believe he's still there today. I was there about 4 months ago meeting 
with Speaker Pelosi, the President, and the Premier of China, and I 
will tell you the risk our country really has is that there is a 
country across the Pacific who fully understands where the jobs of the 
future are going to be. And when we talked to the President and Premier 
of China, they made very clear that they

[[Page 28031]]

were going to try to dominate these industries and dominate job 
creation in building electric cars, electric motors for electric cars, 
wind turbines, solar voltaic plants, solar thermal plants. The Chinese 
are spending about $12 million an hour on renewable energy job 
creation. They spent three times as much on their stimulus bill as we 
did on ours in job creation in clean energy. They want to dominate the 
job creation of the future. And we are determined in this Chamber to 
get in that race both in the energy bill we passed in August and in 
this job creation bill we hope to be considering in the next month on 
the floor to continue this job creation.
  I just want to mention two things that I think we ought to do very 
quickly. Number one, we should be putting thousands of Americans to 
work in retrofitting our homes and our businesses and our public 
buildings and our schools to make them energy efficient.

                              {time}  1645

  We started down that road in the stimulus bill, but there's more we 
can do to put people to work putting insulation in our homes, putting 
new windows on our homes, putting more energy efficient heating and 
cooling systems in our homes, in our schools and our buildings; and we 
will be proposing to leadership in the House, actually, this afternoon 
of this Sustainable Energy and Environment Caucus four or five ways to 
promote that type of job creation.
  Second, we hope to use the Tax Code to continue incentive for 
Americans to make these kind of investments. We have a tax credit for 
homeowners right now, but it's just a credit you could take at the end 
of the year. We want to make that an advance so homeowners possibly can 
get the cash to work with this right now to hire people to put people 
to work in retrofitting their homes. We want to use the Tax Code to 
extend a couple of the tax credits that we're now using to develop job 
creation, for instance, the bio-fuel industry, that is expiring this 
December if we don't extend it. So there's just two ideas. I know we'll 
have some time tonight, but I would suggest that we could at least 
start at those two ideas.
  Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. Thank you, Representative Inslee.
  You talk about energy efficiency. I think we need to regard energy 
efficiency as our fuel of choice. We should give it highest priority 
because, for too long, supply-side solutions were encouraged without 
any addressing of demand side. We have a gluttonous dependency on 
whatever fuel mix we have in this country. We have got to do it with 
more efficiency. And I think that the kilowatt hours saved represent 
those cheapest that we need address into the future. The plant you 
never have to build will be the outcome here that provides for the 
cheapest kilowatt addressed.
  We set a record, an historic record, with the $70 billion worth of 
investment in energy transformation, in renewables and energy 
efficiency and R&D through ARPA-E. All of this is a record proportion 
in this country's history. If it were a stand-alone bill outside of the 
Recovery Act, that would be the case. And so we can take great pride. 
There are people who are advancing this agenda because we know it is 
the right thing to do. And as you indicated, competing nations out 
there are already deeply invested into the race. We do not have the 
luxury to sit by idly and lull in some sort of sense of complacency and 
believe that we can escape this race. We need to be in it as we were in 
the Space Race in the sixties.
  Mr. INSLEE. And I may note, if I can, efficiency, some people think 
that means just turning off your lights when you're not in the room. 
Efficiency needs to be seen as a job creation engine because when you 
become efficient you do two things: one, you make investments in your 
infrastructure to make it more efficient. And when you make those 
investments, you hire sheet metal workers to do the duct work, you hire 
people in the construction trades to do the retrofitting, you hire 
people who are manufacturing energy efficient refrigerators and energy 
efficient air conditioners, and a whole slew of these new businesses. 
So efficiency is a job creator first.
  Secondly, after the efficiency is installed, you free up money for 
other investments. A business that can save 20 percent on its energy 
costs, and many businesses can, there's a company called McKinstry in 
Seattle which is leading the world and putting thousands of people to 
work. They're freeing up that money for businesses to make other 
investments. This is a job creator. We've just got to use the Tax Code 
on something like the PACE bonds, another idea that we will be 
proposing to leadership, to allow municipalities to float bonds, use 
that money to give to homeowners, let the homeowners retrofit their 
home and pay back the municipality on their property taxes. It's a 
surefire winner for everyone to get money to homeowners fast so that 
they can hire people to fix up their homes and have security for 
municipalities of getting paid back.
  Mr. TONKO. You're absolutely right. And I'm very proud to serve on 
Science and Tech as a committee assignment in this House with 
Representative Ben Lujan. We see, firsthand by that committee 
assignment the innovation that is sparked, that the policy we're 
developing is investing in all of this intellect here in the States, in 
the United States where we can provide these opportunities; many are 
shelf-ready. We're not even utilizing those. So we need to advance 
those efforts. Science and Tech is a good way. The SEEC Coalition, the 
Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, is a great opportunity on 
which all three of us serve.
  Representative Lujan, I know you have great thoughts about where we 
can go with energy policy. You're an outspoken voice, to your credit. 
It's great to have you here this evening.
  Mr. LUJAN. Thank you, Mr. Tonko. It's an honor to be here with you 
tonight. I just want to say thank you for making sure we got this hour 
moving, and especially to be here with such a distinguished Member as 
Mr. Inslee to talk about these important projects that are moving 
forward.
  If I could just pick up a little bit where Mr. Inslee left off there, 
when we talk about energy efficiency and the investments that are made 
in people's homes, let's walk through with everybody tuning in what 
that entails. So, at the most basic level, someone that owns a home or 
someone that has a place where they live, they walk down to the local 
hardware store, they purchase, whether it's caulking or some insulation 
that they can install on their own, maybe change out some light bulbs, 
some basic things that they can do on their own. So they go and they 
support the local store, make some investments there, help that local 
economy churn a little bit. They go back home, they make these 
installations, they're going to see that utility bill drop a little 
bit.
  Now with the investments that we've put forward in both the Recovery 
Act and what we hope to see with the energy bill that we passed out of 
this House and out of this Chamber and what the Senate is working on 
right now, we're expanding those opportunities. All across the country 
and going on right back at home, we've been part of going into people's 
homes where they've had some weatherization projects recently, where 
it's a little more complex, where they're working with local 
contractors; local contractors that are going to the community college 
or going back to some of those apprenticeship programs and learning 
some new skills so that way they can further their business, take 
advantage of some of the investments that we've put forward when 
they're installing now more insulation in the roof tops, those 
shinglings that Mr. Inslee was referring to that sheet metal workers 
are now putting in businesses and homes, maybe changing out that 
furnace if it's been there for 20 or 30 years, maybe it's even that 
water heater which has been there for 50 years, doing something with 
that second refrigerator that's maybe taking up a lot of energy.
  Now we're putting people to work. We're making investments in homes. 
We're adding value to the home, so now we're helping people in their 
communities, putting a little bit more money

[[Page 28032]]

in their pockets. If we can do this in every home and people across the 
country are taking advantage of these programs and we're making these 
investments, how much less energy is needed? When we talk about that we 
go to rates, rates that they're going to see coming from utility 
companies as a whole. If we can prevent one more coal plant from being 
built or one more big facility from being built in an old conventional 
way and we're able to employ new technologies, so that way we're 
bringing in more job skills and more job creation, looking at the way 
we can take advantage of abundant resources we have here in the U.S., 
making sure we're building out transmission in a smart way, taking 
advantage of new materials, employing the scientists, the engineers, 
the researchers who are looking at these applied technologies, making 
sure that they're looking at modeling, employing and bringing in the 
expertise from our national laboratories into this now?
  We've got everyone from the person that's in the home that can pick 
up that hammer and could do a little bit of work themselves, to the 
contractor who can go into those homes and make sure that they're 
making those investments, the local hardware person making some 
investments, to physicists, engineers, researchers who are adding to 
this. Now, we don't see the possibility from a job creation 
perspective, and it's unfortunate that we still hear from some of those 
that are opposed to investing in America and in investing in energy, 
from creating these new jobs and making things happen, I don't know 
what more we need to do to convince them, because all across the 
country this is happening. That's why we need to continue making these 
strides forward and making these investments in America, because if we 
do things smarter and we do things better, we're going to get this 
economy turned around. And making sure that we're investing and taking 
advantage of a new way of investing in energy, investing in energy 
efficiency, investing in weatherization and investing in renewable 
generation, we can make all these wonderful things happen.
  And even going a step further to what Mr. Inslee was talking about 
with the bio-fuel tax credit extension, so we're being less dependent 
on foreign sources of fuel, foreign sources of oil, and we're able to 
build that right here in America. What a great idea. It's just an honor 
to be a part of that.
  Mr. TONKO. Thank you. It's also a way to clean the environment. You 
know, the ripple effects of this whole exercise are so great that they 
reach out over the spectrum of jobs in so many dimensions. There are 
the trades that Representative Inslee mentioned a while ago. There are 
those with a bachelor's degree or an associate's degree, a master's 
degree, a Ph.D., all are brought to the table because we need the 
strengths of every one of those sectors of the work force to respond to 
this energy innovation. And I saw from where I sat prior to my entry 
here in Congress, as President and CEO of NYSERDA, the New York State 
Energy, Research and Development Authority, where job creation was a 
big part of the outcome, whether we're retrofitting a factory to make 
it smarter.
  Many are suggesting, well, we can't compete in a global marketplace 
because the workforce is paid so little in some other communities, in 
some other global communities. That may be true. But what we also can 
do is work smarter, and the working smarter is where you embrace the 
intellectual capacity of this country and put it to work for our 
manufacturing sector, put it to work for the businesses across this 
country, where we can reduce that cost of energy, reduce the cost of 
their products and then make them more viable on the global scene, 
where we sharpen that competitive edge, don't dull it with the 
exorbitantly high cost of energy, and where innovation and intellect 
are not embraced in a way that can really make a difference. We see it 
all the time.
  Representative Inslee, I know you want to hop in here because you are 
that outspoken voice from the west coast, if we might add.
  Mr. INSLEE. You made me think of something. You mentioned smart 
people and smart ideas.
  I had a very smart person in my office today. His name is Mike Town. 
He's an environmental science teacher at Redmond High School, the 
Redmond High School Mustangs in Redmond, Washington. Mike is leading a 
national effort called Cool Schools. It's something he started at 
Redmond High School to try to see if his high school could figure out 
how to not waste so much energy and save the school district money. 
They now have saved something like, it's about $25,000 a year just for 
their high school by doing some commonsense efficiency things that they 
have done and in investments they've made at Redmond High School.
  They now have a group called Cool Schools which are trying to get 
schools across the country to engage in this kind of a challenge to see 
how much energy you can save; and the brilliant ideas a lot of the kids 
are coming up with--kids meaning 15-, 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds--the ideas 
on how to green their schools that are making their schools a lot more 
cost effective so the taxpayer can save money, and a lot more green for 
the environment. And the kids learn a lot about science as well. I just 
mention it because the schools can be a factory of ideas, but it's a 
place to put some investment to save taxpayers money. When we make the 
public buildings more efficient, we save taxpayers money.
  But here's the challenge, and here's where I think our last energy 
bill, and perhaps our next jobs bill which might be on this floor in 
December sometime can really do a service. The challenge has been for 
homeowners, how to get the up-front financing to pay the contractor to 
fix your house up. Everybody knows that you might spend a few thousand 
dollars fixing your home up, and you're going to save a lot more over 
the long run because it's going to reduce your energy bill. But the 
question is, how do you come up with the scratch to do the first 
contract?
  Well, where we can help, and we're going to be proposing several 
ideas in this jobs bill that will essentially help the homeowner 
finance that, and there are several ways to do that: one, to give them 
an advance credit on the credit that now exists on your income taxes, 
to actually give an advance so you can pay the contractor to get it 
going.
  Second, we want to make it easier for cities to do what some cities 
like Boulder, Colorado are doing. They have a program where basically 
the city gives the money to the homeowner, the homeowner hires the 
contractor, then the homeowner pays the city back on their property 
tax. And it's a lien on the house, so the city knows they're going to 
get their money back. The city then issues a bond to generate the 
capital to pay for this program. We want to help some cities by 
guaranteeing that bond, they can sell it on the bond market for less 
money then and generate more bang for their buck.
  This is the kind of program that is just difficult really to see how 
it will fail, because almost any investment that people make to their 
homes seem to pay off in the long run in reduced energy bills. It's 
just getting that original capital to get going. So, as part of our 
jobs bill, we're going to be proposing a way to accelerate the ability 
of homeowners, small businesses, school districts, public utilities, 
can generate that capital to get the money investment done and then 
save money over the long run. And when we do that, everybody wins.
  I mean, I know this seems likes a no-brainer. Why isn't it happening 
naturally? It's not happening naturally because people can't get the 
capital to make these worthwhile investments. And when we do this we're 
putting carpenters to work, we're putting plumbers to work, we're 
putting sheet metal workers to work, we're putting truck drivers to 
work, we're putting architects to work, we're putting designers to 
work. This is really a sweet spot for us, and I hope that we can 
accelerate this.
  Mr. TONKO. I think the point you make is a very important one. There 
are so many strategies that we can utilize, so many approaches to 
network

[[Page 28033]]

with consumers out there, be they residential, business, commercial, 
industrial, we can reach them because there are ways with these quick 
payback periods that come with much of this retrofitting or with the 
energy or conservation measures that we can utilize the efficiency 
efforts.

                              {time}  1700

  We can show people where they can recapture that money that was 
invested simply through savings in their energy bill. And I think what 
happens also is that as it catches on in a way that inspires one 
another, neighborhoods, communities and States start getting into 
programs, and it spreads; the good news spreads.
  We did, when I was at NYSERDA, a dairy program that invested in 
energy efficiency at dairy farms. Now they were not getting what they 
believed was a fair enough price, and I agree with them, for their 
product. We couldn't control that at a State level, but we could reduce 
their costs of production. And we did it by reducing, through energy 
efficiency, their energy bill. And they would take pumping and cooling 
processes at the farm, they would take all of the elements that needed 
to be put into the process, the business plan of that dairy farmer, and 
reduced, in a very clever way, by working with Cornell University, 
working with the local utility, working with NYSERDA, and working with 
the Farm Bureau, we came up with a program that really saved a lot of 
farms.
  Today that program is very popular in a couple of counties in the 
State of New York where the demonstration was begun. And it is 
something that could be stretched through time over a larger bit of 
geography for many farmers to utilize such a program.
  When Representative Inslee talked about the school system and saving 
the schools money so that they could then, with that fungible notion of 
that budget, transfer some of those savings over to investment in the 
classroom, that's great. But I also think we teach by example.
  Our students watch what we are doing. I spoke at a high school 
graduation this summer at North Colonie School System at Shaker High, 
about 500 or so graduates, and incorporated all of the talk about 
energy transitioning, innovation economy and the need to protect the 
environment and strengthen the environment. I have to tell you, 
throughout the course of the summer, so many students from that high 
school reached out to me. They would see me and in casual conversation 
they would support the statements that you offered, the ideas that you 
were sharing at their graduation. They are going to push us. They are 
going to push these generations that are today making decisions to move 
forward with a progressive plan, with an idea that really saves our 
Earth and allows this economy to jump-start.
  I think of that idealism, and I take myself back 40 years. what a 
great opportunity to shake the hands of the Apollo 11 team a couple 
months ago in July when everyone was in town celebrating the 40th 
anniversary of having won that space race. The U.S. landed a person on 
the Moon, and look at the technology improvements that came from that 
race. And we won it.
  We need that same passionate resolve to enter into this race. We 
don't have the luxury to say we won't enter this clean energy global 
race. We know there are other partners already out there. And in my 
heart, I totally believe that we can win this race. But we can't afford 
to sit by because China, India, Japan and Germany--Germany is investing 
in solar PV hot water systems where they are training a niche of 
plumbers to retrofit homes where they are using the sun to power the 
hot water needs that they need. It's available.
  All these opportunities are there. We simply need to move forward.
  Representative Inslee, you wanted to jump in.
  Mr. INSLEE. I just want to make one comment before I leave. There is 
some really good news out here for America on the job front in clean 
energy. Two weeks ago on the Microsoft campus out in Washington State, 
I drove a Ford Focus, which will probably be the first American, mass-
produced all-electric vehicle. And this car is the bomb. When Americans 
get in an all-electric car and understand how much torque an all-
electric car can generate, this is the fastest car I've been in since I 
was in my buddy's Chevy 404 in 1968. When you hit the pedal, it's not a 
gas pedal, I guess we will call it the accelerator, they will still 
call it the gas pedal anyway, even though it's all-electric, 
unbelievable power is generated because an electric engine gives you 
immediate torque. In an internal combustion engine, you have the 
pistons and you have to get the momentum up. Electricity is immediate 
torque.
  Now everybody has been talking about electric cars because they are 
so efficient. They can wean us off of our Middle Eastern oil addiction, 
which is so dangerous to us. They can reduce global warming. But what 
Americans will really love is how fast they are and the acceleration 
you get from them. That will be the fun thing about them.
  The good news is we now have an opportunity to get thousands of 
Americans to work building electric cars, building plug-in hybrid cars. 
And General Motors has the Volt, which will be coming out. You plug it 
in, and it goes 40 miles on all electric, and then it has an internal 
combustion motor so you can go another 200, 250 miles without having to 
get another charge.
  They have taken a little different approach. Americans will have a 
choice of how to move forward in electric cars. The Tesla is already on 
the street, which is all-electric, which is the sportiest, fastest and 
most amazing-looking car you've ever seen. They're a little expensive 
right now, but they're working very well.
  The point I want to make, though, is we have got to jump-start this 
progress because the Chinese want to dominate this industry. And once 
they get a foot in the door internationally, you don't want to be the 
second place coming out of the chute in the provision for the electric 
car. And what we did in our energy bill and our stimulus bill has given 
very significant investment capability in the industry to produce these 
cars.
  We also did it for the batteries. We had $2 billion in the stimulus 
bill to try to jump-start a domestic lithium ion battery system to run 
these cars. Now there are some other things we can do perhaps even to 
move further to get jobs in these industries.
  The point I want to make is we can't sit around for 10 years and 
maybe do this 10 years from now. We have to do it right now for two 
reasons: one, we've got a 10 percent unemployment rate, and people are 
desperate out there. We know how trying and the anxiety that 
unemployment creates. It is one of the most difficult things for people 
who want to be productive, who want to take care of their families. 
This is very difficult for thousands of our fellow Americans right now.
  But, two, this is the opportunity of the lifetime or maybe several 
generations that we can't lose to these other countries. And so that is 
why it's important that the other Chamber pass this energy bill. That's 
why it is important in our upcoming jobs bill to investigate other 
ways.
  Here is one idea I hope will be considered in the jobs bill: we need 
to provide charging stations for people. If we are going to have 
electric cars, we need charging stations. And helping municipalities 
build these charging station networks is something we might be able to 
do to get electrical workers, IBEW members, machinists, electrical 
engineers employed, working with the infrastructure to create charging 
stations around the Nation. Now we don't need as many as you might 
think because 60 percent of all our trips are under 40 miles anyway, 
and these cars are going to have at least a 100-mile range. So most of 
our trips don't require a car that has 300 mileage. But we still need 
some in case you want to go a long distance.
  So I hope in our jobs bill we will consider ways to jump-start the 
building out of these electrical systems to get that job done. I want 
to thank you for letting me participate tonight. I look forward to our 
next discussion.
  Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Inslee, and thank you not only 
for

[[Page 28034]]

your dedication to the efforts of reforming energy policy, but your 
determination to keep fighting to that finish line. And it's that kind 
of advocacy that will get it done. We thank you for joining us this 
evening.
  Representative Lujan, we hear about the messaging that is so 
important about creating jobs. We have an environment out there that 
needs to be strengthened, cleaned and protected. We have energy crises 
of various types that need to be resolved. And all of this can respond 
to a job crisis in this Nation and in this world.
  There are hurting economies. There's a recession that went deeper and 
longer than many projected. There was a deficit inherited by this 
administration that was developed over the course of 8 years that 
really puts this economy into a hurting situation.
  And so now it's our task, the Obama administration's challenge, to 
take that deficit inherited that really destroyed an economy, and now 
we have the opportunity to rebuild that economy but, at the same time, 
to respond in a way to the dynamics out there of energy reform, of 
environment, of strengthening the environment response, and at the same 
time, developing jobs of all types, from the trades on over to the 
Ph.D.s.
  I know that you're in the middle of that battle. I know from your 
statements made in the Science and Technology Committee and from your 
statements made on the floor that no one can second guess where your 
heart is and where your thinking is on this issue.
  Mr. LUJAN. Mr. Tonko, we have an opportunity to work on these issues 
together, to move legislation and work with our colleagues to talk 
about what tomorrow will look like and not wait for a few years to come 
before we get a lot of this policy in place to create these jobs, to be 
smart about the way we do things, to invest in this technology and to 
really embrace this opportunity that we have now.
  As I travel around the district, I remind people how, not too long 
ago, we had $4.50 gasoline. If you were using diesel and you were out 
on the farm in some of the rural parts of the country, we had $5 diesel 
fuel, and how a lot of those people that were making the profits off of 
that, where this money was going overseas, they weren't really our 
friends. And they still aren't. We see where that money is going. We 
have an opportunity now to change that as a way that we look at energy 
in the country, in the United States of America, in this beautiful 
place that we call home.
  Now, as we talk about the tax incentives necessary for homeowners and 
businesses to be able to invest in their homes, I think Mr. Inslee is 
right on track there. As we talk about what we can do, in looking at 
being smarter about the way that we look at policy, adopting better 
ways of doing things, encouraging people to invest in their homes in a 
way that's going to save them money in the long run, that's going to 
add value to their home in the long run is brilliant, I hope that we 
have something like that in the new jobs bill.
  Now, Mr. Tonko, you were talking about how you were able to work with 
schools in your community, with Cornell, with leading institutions and 
universities, to work with the local public schools or with the dairies 
to create more efficiency so that way they could put more money back 
into their pockets, have a more competitive cost structure with their 
products as well.
  When we invest in our schools, we create living classrooms. We create 
classrooms where we are teaching our students these jobs skills of 
tomorrow by encouraging them to go learn a trade or go to college to 
become that electrical engineer, the mechanical engineer, to become the 
entrepreneur to start a business so that way they can go and make these 
investments in our community.
  What better way to get more young people encouraged and to really get 
that ingenuity moving, to get the creativity alive and well again in 
our country? This is the way to get it done. There is no reason that we 
can't be working more closely with our students, teaching them in the 
classroom, leaning on our universities, our national laboratories, to 
be able to partner up with our businesses and show them how to do 
things better, how to use less energy, how to take these products to 
market better and how to build them right here in the good old U.S. of 
A.
  We talked a little about vehicles. Now as we transition and we are 
investing in these technologies where we have hybrids and plug-ins, we 
need to look to see how we can do better here in this country as well. 
And that's something where I'm encouraged where a little more people 
are talking about how even natural gas can be used in our vehicles, 
which burns a lot less carbon, but is abundant in different parts of 
our country that can go into our vehicles.
  Now it's being smarter about the way we do things, and it's using 
technology a little differently; and it allows us to be able to not 
have to depend on foreign sources of oil while we're getting there. And 
those investments will be used in electric vehicles and hybrids and 
making sure we are making these technologies available to everyone. And 
it is just so exciting because as I go home and I talk to our national 
laboratories and I talk to businesses. I have seen an opportunity now 
where we can maybe build and retrofit a refinery back in New Mexico to 
have a biofuel refinery.
  These are exciting things that we can do to put people to work, to 
bring people back to work and to even show this technology off to the 
rest of the world.
  It's happening right here at home. And it's only going to continue, 
though, if we make these investments and we get more people on board 
and the people around us, people all across America realize that this 
is something that we can do. It's a job starter. It's a job creator. 
And it's really where we need to go as a country to get back in front 
of everything.
  Mr. TONKO. Well, Representative Lujan, what I believe you're 
expressing here is the greatness of America. And that is driven by a 
belief, a set of values, a skill set, an investment in education that 
says we have succeeded in the past, we can continue to succeed, and we 
will succeed because the success that is driven oftentimes is 
determined by a tone that is established. This administration has said, 
enough with these deficits that were created that we inherited and now 
we have to resolve. We have to move forward with an investment that 
carries us through these dark times that were developed.

                              {time}  1715

  And how do we do that? Well, you and I, both working through the 
Sustainable Energy and the Environment Coalition--SEEC, as is commonly 
referenced--heard from the former minister of energy from Denmark. He 
talked about transitioning that economy of Denmark, transitioning their 
energy thinking. Afterward, I talked to him and said, Just how did you 
do it? Some of the ideas were driven by the American think tank. They 
took patents from this country and they deployed that thinking into 
their economy and they invested in their economy. Well, now that's 
sharp thinking. That's the sort of efficiency that we all should strive 
for in government.
  Now, in this process we need to invest, yes, in the R&D, but we need 
to then transition those discoveries in the lab, those whiz-kid ideas. 
We need to take those and deploy them to manufacturing, we need to 
deploy them to the commercialization sector, so as to realize the 
discovery here in a way that provides for improvements in society and 
new responses to energy crises.
  Well, just recently the President traveled to my district, to the 
capital region of New York, to Hudson Valley Community College. We have 
been talking about the wonderful economy, regional economy, that has 
been a foundation, a fertile ground for fostering the thinking of 
nanoscience and semiconductor as an industry. There is that fertile 
investment that now is anxious to couple with Federal thinking, with 
Federal resources.
  And so the President showcased this wonderful thinking in the region,

[[Page 28035]]

through the community college, developing curricula for green-collar 
workforce development; dealing with construction majors who will know 
state-of-the-art solar or PV installation; working with all those 
budding scientists and skill sets from the trade sector that are going 
to be there to transition us.
  So he talked about the investment in human terms, in capital terms, 
in ways that will allow us to now transition. This is how we grow out 
of this deficit situation, which we inherited from no sense of vision 
and from poor management of resources. Now we're going to work together 
to develop energy plans, to work on a situation that grows jobs.
  This is all about growing jobs. We hear it all across America. People 
are looking for jobs. This is a good way to develop those jobs--R&D 
jobs, manufacturing jobs. Once you invest in that so-called ``valley of 
death'' where there isn't that network of Federal resources to be 
matched with the angel network and the venture capitalists that take 
the idea from the lab, from the investment, from both the private 
sector, academia, or maybe even government, taking that and 
transitioning it over into the commercial sector, into the 
manufacturing sector--that is the resource we need.
  And when the President traveled to the district, he heard how we 
needed to connect those dynamics so that the confluence of those ideas 
and those resources spell success, spell new ideas. The American 
intellect is so very capable of making that happen. That is the 
greatness of America. And we can underscore that greatness by investing 
and inserting the sort of policy that makes the total difference here.
  Again, we don't have the luxury to wait. We cannot sit by in some 
sort of idle complacency that finds us comfortable with where we're at 
today without stretching, without transforming, without moving forward 
in a way that we did 40 years ago with the space race. And we were 
proud when we won that.
  When I was a kid, we heard Sputnik all the time--in school, at home, 
at church, wherever you traveled in the community. People were 
passionate about making that happen. We were going to move forward, we 
were going to invest. We shared a vision. We fine-tuned that vision as 
an American people and then won that prize by landing that person on 
the moon. That influenced all sorts of technology growth and 
inspiration.
  We have that same golden opportunity here. What a mistake if we're to 
let it go by. We will fail generations to come if we do not seize this 
moment and make it work in policy terms, in investment terms, in 
resource terms, in a way that spells a new day for energy generation, 
energy efficiency, and energy investment through R&D.
  Representative Lujan, I know that working on these several projects, 
we can make a difference.
  Mr. LUJAN. Mr. Tonko, well said. As we talk about what this has to 
offer the country, where we can go from here and how we can learn from 
some of the mistakes that were made in the past, you know, this notion 
of the over $4 a gallon gasoline and up to $4.50 and $5 that we saw 
recently, not too long ago--we saw what was happening and how we're 
creeping, yet the investments weren't made.
  Now, those that are critical of the President and of this Congress 
for making investments that are going to make a difference tomorrow so 
that we're solving these problems, we don't have the dependence on 
these foreign sources of oil; we're going to take the latest and 
greatest, the scientists, the smartest people, the individuals that are 
starting their own businesses, those contractors, the tradespeople, the 
builders, and bring everyone together to do it better, to do it 
smarter. I don't understand it, why there are still those that don't 
think these are good ideas.
  We talked a lot about the space program. Now let's put this into 
perspective. When we won the space race here in the United States and 
we developed the technologies that enabled us to win that space race, 
solar panels were part of that. And where are we now, Mr. Tonko? With 
the rest the world, falling behind when it comes to solar technology, 
to using it and integrating it into everyday use. Now this is a 
technology that we developed here that enabled us to win the space race 
and generate the power needed to keep the men that were in space safe 
and get them back home. We can use it to power our homes. We can use it 
to diversify the way that we generate power for the country. We can use 
it to create jobs. We can use it to develop more and more exciting, 
innovative ways of looking at the way we do things. And, as you so 
eloquently put it, talking about nanotechnology; building things 
smaller and smaller, where we have been able to do this with the way 
that we use computers now, where they use less energy; the phones that 
we use.
  All the technology that has come out of what we achieved with the 
space race, and how we in the country have fallen behind now--that's 
what we're talking about here. It's investing in America. It's staying 
ahead of the curve here. It's making sure that we provide the best 
education for our kids, that we're making this commitment in science 
and technology and engineering and math, and that we're keeping it here 
to build the things here, to build these components, to create these 
jobs back here at home. That's what we're talking about here. And I 
just hope that more and more of our colleagues, Democrats, Republicans, 
independents, that we can come together to make this investment in 
America, because we can't afford not to.
  We have always been leaders when it comes to innovation. Now let's 
take that leap, let's take that step, and let's make that commitment to 
invest in America, invest in ingenuity, create these jobs, and do 
things better and smarter for tomorrow.
  Mr. TONKO. Representative Lujan, I couldn't agree more. And I really 
do believe that many of us were sparked--our interest was sparked by 
just the vision that we shared and by the news that we would hear on a 
daily basis. We'd come home from school and hear it on the night news. 
That sparked so many people to look at math, at science, at 
engineering, because we had leaders that really saw that we had this 
greatness of potential within us.
  So everyone marched along in this chorus of belief that we could make 
the world a better place. There was a sense of global community. There 
was a commitment of this Nation to really lead in a way that provided 
for great outcomes.
  That sort of leadership is coming back here. I think that this 
administration, the leadership here with Speaker Pelosi and the leaders 
of so many committees in this House see it, they get it. They know we 
can solve this job crisis by bringing in the nuances of energy reform, 
of health care reform, of providing for a jobs agenda.
  You know, when you look at some of these issues where you take 
nanoscience within my district, where they're really developing this 
precision testing--the mass production of the past Industrial 
Revolution was about a great idea, perhaps started in your garage and 
then developed into a factory-size space because you had to meet 
demand. Well, today it's about precision. As you pointed out, something 
as thin as a strand of hair will be what they're working on.
  And so the prototyping, the testing, the evaluating, are all elements 
of success. Very pricey. And so there's a role here for the Federal 
Government to insert itself, to say, Look, you're an entrepreneur; 
you're a budding scientist; you're an emerging technology that's being 
driven by your intellect. Let us partner with you, let us partner with 
the angel network, with the investor communities, so that we can take 
this idea and make it real and put it on the shelf. That's what it's 
all about.
  Other countries are using our ideas--and our ideas are still those 
that are driven by an investment in education, in higher education. So 
this is a full set of circumstances by which we will govern ourselves, 
our thinking, in a way that transitions this economy. That's what it's 
about, the innovation economy. And yes, there's a jobs crisis. But yes, 
we saw what the deficit that had

[[Page 28036]]

been going far too long did to our employment issue. Did this happen 
overnight? Did this just happen 3 months ago? Did we just start to lose 
jobs just weeks ago? I don't think so. But now the transitioning into 
an innovation economy is driven by heart and the mind--the thinking 
here that we can do better and we will do better. And that's what it's 
all about. It's taking the stand and making certain that we invest our 
way through some very difficult times.
  Mr. LUJAN. Mr. Tonko, I'm glad that you're reminding everyone 
watching today that these job losses and what's happening with the 
economy and the deficit, that this just didn't happen 3 weeks ago or 3 
months ago or even 6 months ago. That this is something that was 
developing and building.
  We're going to hear those that say we can't invest in the country 
when it comes to clean energy, we can't do this, we can't do that. 
Well, I say to them: We can't afford not to. We're going to continue to 
hear how others want to scare the American people and don't want to see 
this President succeed or this Congress succeed in investing in 
America. We need to do things better here. And I know, Mr. Tonko, we're 
both new to Congress. But when it comes to putting the American people 
first and remembering why we came here and continuing to invest in this 
great Nation of ours to make it stronger and better and providing an 
environment where we can let people that want to start a business, 
start a business; where we invest in that science and that ingenuity 
and that creativity which allows them to do it, that's what we can do.
  Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. And it's responding to the needs of middle-
income America, working families across this country, who are part of 
the solution. They are part of the solution. We need simply to bring 
everybody together into a working semblance that then allows us to move 
forward.
  You know, I think of the wind energy efficiency bill that I got 
passed in this House that started in the Science and Tech Committee, 
taking a step back to look at how we can improve not only the placement 
but the wind forecasting. But also the manufacturing, the materials 
that are utilized. The gear assembly. How do we do this? Well, you 
couple that with the nanoscience sector and you can take that 
nanoscience growth, that intellect that's being developed, that's being 
fostered in the various centers of nanotechnology, and couple them with 
perhaps agriculture or pharmaceutical as an industry, or the health 
care industry, certainly the energy industry, and produce stronger 
materials, lighter materials, more durable materials, working on 
situations that provide for the greatest efficient outcome with the 
resources that we invest.
  I look at kinetic hydropower that was used as a demonstration project 
at NYSERDA, where I used to serve as president and CEO. We used the 
turbulence of the East River along the island of Manhattan, and we 
utilized that water movement to turn the turbines sub water to create 
power needs for Roosevelt Island. Well, that's just a snippet of the 
imagination that can be tapped into.
  Today, after improvements through the DOE lab in Colorado, we're now 
looking at the potential of 1,100 megawatts of power produced by 
kinetic hydro. That's just a sampling of what can happen. We see 
geothermal and its potential. I was there for a ribbon-cutting for a 
project at the Culinary Institute of America utilizing geothermal to 
help run the campus activities.
  All of this has immense potential, immeasurable at times, and all we 
have to do is unleash the talent. A leading Nation such as ours cannot, 
again, be complacent. And we need to continually energize our thinking 
and our behavior. No lead nation can allow itself to slip backward. 
Unless we encourage our workforce and our students out there, our 
youth, to desire, to invent, and discover and explore, we will not 
maintain a leadership status.
  So I agree with you, for those who are agents of no, for those who 
wanted to settle for the status quo, those who are perhaps using 
partisan approaches to deny progress with this administration, need not 
put the burdens and the hurdles before us.

                              {time}  1730

  We need to march forward in progress, sharing a boldness of vision, 
created by a situation here that has really triggered the need for the 
American ingenuity, the American intellect, and the American resolve to 
move us forward.
  Representative Lujan, it's great to have you here this evening.
  Mr. LUJAN. Well, it's great to be with you, Mr. Tonko. I'm not sure 
if there is anything to add after that.
  When you talk about the piece of legislation that you brought to the 
floor and we were able to get passed that would make new investments in 
wind energy, back home in a little community by the name of Tucumcari, 
New Mexico, we have the North American Wind Research and Training 
Center at Mesalands Community College where they're training young 
people how to maintain these wind turbines across New Mexico, across 
Texas, up to Colorado, and across the country. I will tell you, job 
creation, investments in new energy, investments in clean energy, 
they're all connected. That's one example of a piece of legislation 
that's allowing us to achieve this and make it happen.
  It's just great to be on the floor with you this evening, Mr. Tonko, 
as we're able to talk to the American people and those that want to see 
this happen, those that are hungry for this investment, those that are 
hungry to see their kids have these opportunities for years to come, 
that they want more generations behind them to have as well. I'll tell 
you, we're almost there, Mr. Tonko, and we're going to make this 
happen, and it's going to be the American people to help push us over 
the top.
  Mr. TONKO. Well, I agree. And thank you for leadership like that that 
you have provided, because it's that advocacy, that voice of can-do 
that will make the difference. I think of the opportunity that we have 
to make solar a legacy piece.
  Representative Giffords introduced her solar efficiency roadmap 
legislation, and allowing for us to look again at the efficiencies that 
we can drive into the solar discussion, the solar outcome, we should 
create a legacy piece of that. We need to look at thin film and R&D 
that can put us into a situation where we discover the materials that 
can shave the priciness of some of these renewable opportunities that 
then make them all the more competitive, make them all the more 
connected to consumer behavior out there.
  You know, if we can utilize the sun, and if we can utilize water, and 
if we can utilize the wind, and if we can utilize the soil to provide 
for our needs in a benign way, then what a tremendous legacy, what a 
tremendous bit of progress to leave that next generation as they will 
continue to grow upon our success stories. But what a tragedy if we're 
to look back and say that we thought status quo was fine, that 40 years 
ago we won a space race and we were content to sit still. Nothing could 
be more un-American than that thinking.
  So in this House, in this loftiness, we require lofty thinking, and 
that's what it's about. I'm so proud of this majority in that they do 
speak in lofty terms, Madam Speaker. I think this is the way we get 
things done, and I am just impressed with what I see here being brought 
forward not only in resolve for an energy problem or problems or with 
environmental concerns, but in job creation, where we're allowing as a 
down payment a half million jobs with the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act, but then looking at the millions of jobs that come 
forward through a program like ACES, the American Clean Energy and 
Security Act, that allows us to, again, think outside that barrel and 
say, That's not good enough for us.
  Fossil-based fuels, you know, the dependency to send hundreds of 
billions of dollars to foreign economies where there are unfriendly 
governments that are utilizing those monies in their Treasury that are 
poured in from the American pockets and then fight us as

[[Page 28037]]

terrorist regimes or what have you, we have got to step back and say, 
There is a better way. And there is a better way, and we're promoting 
it. We're advancing it here, and it's all in the name of job creation, 
job retention, which I believe is a benefit that is immeasurable in its 
kind.
  Madam Speaker, we thank you for the opportunity this evening to share 
sentiments on behalf of Democrats in the House who are advancing the 
notion of progressive energy policy, of resources that will enable us 
to think in new capacity as we speak to the energy needs of this Nation 
all while advancing the notion of jobs. We thank you for that 
opportunity.
  Representative Lujan, any closing comments?
  Mr. LUJAN. Madam Speaker, we just appreciate the time this evening to 
remind the American people what we can do, the jobs that can be created 
when we can come together and make investments in this great Nation of 
ours. Investing in energy and being smart about the way we do things, 
it's all part of the mix. It's just great to know that this Congress 
and this President are serious about getting something done to be able 
to put the American people first.

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