[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4685]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1220
                    WAKE-UP CALLS; ARE WE LISTENING?

  (Mr. TONKO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TONKO. Madam Speaker, wake-up calls; are we listening? Yes, there 
are wake-up calls. Can we hear them?
  This majority in the House has not heeded a wake-up call. They have 
ignored the investments that we need in the clean energy economy to 
grow jobs.
  What are those wake-up calls? Well, there is, first, the hard-earned 
American energy consumer dollars, $400 billion plus, that go to 
unfriendly nations that will take those dollars and invest in fighting 
the American troops while they supply us fossil-based fuels. Then there 
is the oil spill in the gulf that reeked damage on our ecosystem and 
wrecked the regional economy. Then there was the sticker shock at the 
pump, at the gas pump, that is driving down the American economy. And 
no one is listening.
  Now maybe we will pay attention to the sad announcement today. Last 
year, we dropped to number three in clean energy investment after China 
and Germany. When will we wake up?
  I say today, as the President talks to us about energy security in 
our economy, that we need to reduce oil imports and innovate into a 
clean energy future. We need to heed that clarion call. It is a wake-up 
call that's necessary.
  The America I know and love is number one. It should never be three 
on the list of clean energy investment.

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