[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 13267-13268]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           ENERGY SAVINGS AND INDUSTRIAL COMPETITIVENESS ACT

  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I wish to take a few minutes this 
morning to talk about legislation that was previously scheduled to be 
debated on the Senate floor this week--the Energy Savings and 
Industrial Competitiveness Act, also known as Shaheen-Portman. I know 
the Presiding Officer has been very involved in energy issues for all 
of his time in public life, and I do appreciate the work he did as a 
Member of the House. I know he is following this debate very closely. I 
appreciate that.
  This bill is one Senator Rob Portman and I have been working on for 3 
years. I appreciate that he has come to the floor today to talk about 
it as well. We have had 3 years of meetings, negotiations, and broad 
stakeholder outreach in an effort to craft the most effective piece of 
energy legislation, with the greatest possible chance of passing both 
Chambers of Congress and being signed into law.
  Shaheen-Portman is a bipartisan effort that reflects an affordable 
approach to boost the use of energy efficiency technologies. It will 
help create private sector jobs, save businesses and

[[Page 13268]]

consumers money, reduce pollution, and make our country more energy 
independent. It will have a swift and measurable benefit on our economy 
and our environment. In the last few weeks we saw a study from experts 
at the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy which found 
that this legislation has the potential to create 136,000 domestic jobs 
by 2025, all while saving consumers billions of dollars and reducing 
pollution.
  Efficiency is the cheapest and fastest approach to reduce our energy 
use. Energy savings techniques and technologies lower costs and free up 
capital that allows businesses to expand and our economy to grow. 
Perhaps equally important, energy efficiency has emerged as an 
excellent example of a bipartisan and affordable opportunity to 
immediately grow our economy and improve energy security. In addition 
to being affordable, efficiency is widely supported because its 
benefits are not confined to a certain fuel source or a particular 
region of the country. It is clearly one of the policy areas where we 
really can come to a common agreement.
  It is no wonder that energy efficiency legislation--Shaheen-Portman--
enjoys such large and diverse support. It has received more than 250 
endorsements from a wide range of businesses, environmental groups, 
think tanks, and trade associations, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 
and the National Association of Manufacturers to the Natural Resources 
Defense Council.
  I am hopeful the Senate will return to Shaheen-Portman when we have 
finished debating the serious issue of Syria. I appreciate the 
commitment of our leadership on both sides of the aisle in the Senate 
to do so. I recognize this will be the first time a major energy bill 
has reached the Senate floor since 2007; therefore, it only makes sense 
for us to have a robust energy debate that allows for amendments from 
both sides of the aisle to be considered. I look forward to working 
with my colleagues to find an agreement on the way forward.
  I thank my good friend Senator Portman for his partnership in 
bringing this bill to the floor. I also thank the majority and minority 
leaders as well as Chairman Wyden and Ranking Member Murkowski for all 
of their support as we have gone through this process and hopefully 
will bring this bill to the floor in the next couple of weeks.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.

                          ____________________