Cory Gardner

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. The gentleman brings up a good point. Just one instance of stimulus spending in my district where it actually threatens jobs, and that was a program that came out of the BTOP grant program to try to provide broadband to unserved and underserved areas across this country, a noble purpose, to try to make sure that we're connected to Internet technologies that we need with high speed, to make sure we're able to educate children and a competitive workforce. But, unfortunately, the money that came out of the stimulus actually was used to duplicate services by the private sector. In some areas, they actually overbuilt, 100 percent with government money, services, a fiber-optic cable that was already in place by the private sector. Many of these companies are very small, small co-ops, telecoms that can't afford to have somebody come in and undermine them with the free government money, trying to offer under-cost services, and yet that's exactly what happened in the stimulus bill. They were already providing the service, and yet the government came in and laid a line right next to the line that already existed in there. So that's what happened in the stimulus bill. Instead of creating jobs, it actually undermined our ability to build the private sector up. And I know the gentlelady from Alabama has been an incredible leader on this.

Mr. GARDNER. That's exactly, at this time, what this country needs. I'm working, in a bipartisan fashion, with a Democrat from Vermont, Peter Welch, on an energy-efficiency measure. The President has also talked about this kind of approach, using performance contracts to create jobs, lower the amount of energy consumed by the United States Government--the largest economy consumer in the country. But we do it without government mandates; we do it without government subsidies. But we're doing something that's going to create private sector jobs, save the taxpayer dollars, and use less energy at the Federal level. The President's doing this. We're doing this here. These are the kinds of opportunities we have to work together that are creating jobs, And they're not to bow down or to kowtow to a certain element of an agenda. It's actually to move the country forward by doing the right thing.

Mr. GARDNER. I've talked to countless individuals, business owners, people who wanted to start a business, that talked about what it took for them to get started. Some of them maxed out every credit card that they had. They applied for more credit cards just so they could max out to try to get the business off the ground. Others are looking at it, saying, you know, I've got some great ideas where we could grow, we could expand, or I could even start my own business, but I can't do that because we don't have the ability or the means to do that. But to your point about the USDA requiring a license of somebody's rabbit, The Wall Street Journal recently talked about a Competitive Enterprise Institute study estimating that Federal regulations cost over $1.8 trillion. Now, that's nearly $15,000 for every American household, $15,000 that, before you can start your business, before you do anything else, is already built into the cost of doing business. That's already part of the factor you have to overcome the regulations. $1.8 trillion, that's about the same size as Canada's GDP, the gross domestic product of Canada. We are regulating this country to the size of Canada's gross domestic product; and yet we're hoping to solve our unemployment problem by getting people to put it all on the line and risk their houses, their lives to go out and start something, to go out and take a risk, and yet we have regulations, $15,000 every household. How can we expect this economy to recover when we have the uncertainty, whether it's the President's health care bill, whether it's uncertainty over energy regulations, coal ash bills that we'll be dealing with this week, or, indeed, licensing a rabbit at USDA?

Mr. GARDNER. I thank my colleague from Illinois and the gentlelady from Alabama for her leadership and the things we truly need to get under control in order to build better lives for our families and families across this Nation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the time tonight. I know the gentleman from Illinois said that his district is flat. I think I'll surprise a lot of people when I say that I represent the second largest geographic area in the State of Colorado in Congress and most of my district is flat as well, so I understand what the gentleman is talking about when he talks about vast areas of great flat land in the high plains of Colorado. When we got elected in 2010, the three of us here tonight, who all got elected in 2010 because we wanted to find a way to make America work again, to empower people around this country, whether it was the inner cities of our biggest areas, to people in rural areas across Colorado and this Nation, empower them to build the life that they always wanted to, to pursue their dreams, to ensure that the American spirit is alive and well. I think most of us recognize that we do that when we give people the power to do that for themselves, to get government out of the way and let America work, to tear down regulations that prevent job creation, to help make sure that access to capital is easier, not more difficult, that energy is more affordable and not more costly. And over the past couple of years, we have pursued policies to do just that. In fact, this upcoming week, we will be voting on legislation to ensure that energy policies don't drive up the cost that it takes to power our economy, but to ensure we have a safeguard over regulations that cost too much, to make sure that the Department of Energy is paying attention to what is happening at the EPA in terms of regulations. We've passed legislation to make it easier for people in small dollar amounts to loan money to their neighbors, to their friends, to invest in businesses that they're excited about, to try to tear down hurdles to invest at the individual level. You don't need a stockbroker down on Wall Street to figure out how to get involved in the American economy. We've passed legislation that allows individuals to get involved at the very start-up level of companies, innovators and entrepreneurs around this country. We did it because we know there are people who have incredible ideas of how to create opportunity, incredible ideas of how to create new wealth where none existed before. In my district, whether it's agriculture, whether it's energy, or whether it's high tech, entrepreneurs are leading this Nation. And I know the gentlelady from Alabama and the gentleman from Illinois have similar experiences. We talk tonight about what we can do for this country and legislation that we will be introducing. But we will also be talking about the impediments we have to a full, healthy, economic recovery, and that's the President's plan. While the President talks a lot about the economy, and I hear that he's going to be talking once again about the economy, but, unfortunately, his actions haven't matched up and the people in this country are still suffering.

Mr. GARDNER. The gentleman from Pennsylvania, I think you make some great points, and I just am reminded of the businesses that I've talked to in my district, from employers who are concerned they may have to reduce hours of their workforce, or employees who've already had their hours reduced. And I don't want to interrupt your comments, but I think you are pointing out how this is actually hurting the economy. So, as the President pivots to jobs, perhaps he should pivot away from the bad policies that are driving this economy downward.

Mr. GARDNER. One of the things that I think the gentleman brings up in tonight's conversation is he continues to talk about opportunity and what we stand for and what we've been able to do for jobs. I know that the gentlelady from Alabama is leading, if you're interested in engaging in this conversation around the country, wherever you are over the next days, weeks, months, as we talk about the economy, and beyond then, sending a tweet with the #4jobs in terms of engaging in this conversation. But you talked about what we can do. What we can do right now--and the gentleman from Virginia knows very well--it is energy. We've talked to people about a manufacturing renaissance in this country. There are articles in the paper about businesses that were located in Germany that are looking to relocate into the United States. A company we talked to said the cost of energy in India is four times what they were paying here. Traveling to my district, the Niobrara Formation, Eastern Plains, Western Slope, the energy that we can create there that's allowing this to happen. Whether it's coal, whether it's natural gas, whether it's renewable energy in my district, we have incredible opportunities to create these kinds of jobs that we know will put food on people's plates around the table, that will actually allow people to go on vacation, to afford to put gas in the car, to find a better way for their families. So these are the kinds of jobs with this revolution that we can continue to foster, but we have to have a President that doesn't just pivot to jobs once in a while, but is committed to a long-term, healthy economy that gets the regulatory mess out of the way, that provides certainty. I talked to a restaurant owner in my district. He owns three different bagel shops. He's actually going to have to sell one of them. He's worried because he doesn't know how he's going to be able to comply with the new health care plan. That's not the kind of certainty that we're looking for. So don't stop what's going good in this country--the manufacturing renaissance, energy development, opportunity--and let's fix what's not going great; let's fix what's going wrong in this country.

Mr. GARDNER. I was speaking to a business in my district several months ago, and they had a conversation with somebody who isn't interested in reducing the burden on American families by making common sense out of our Tax Code, creating a flatter, fairer tax system. This is a manufacturing business in Colorado. They were talking about what their tax rate is and that they have looked at every way, every provision, every code possible to try to figure out how to lower that rate, and they can't go any further. They're still in the lower thirties. The response they got from a legislator was, Well, you just need to hire a new accountant. Instead of actually trying to get to real reform of our Tax Code to lower the rate, flatten the code, they actually were told to just get a new accountant because they're not doing the right jobs. That's not how we're going to create jobs in this country.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow will mark the one-year anniversary of the movie theater shootings in Aurora, Colorado. The 12 killed and 82 injured never thought the midnight screening of a movie would end in violence. We stand here today as members of the Colorado delegation to remember and honor the victims of this tragedy. And we stand here today to honor the strength and resilient spirit Coloradans have shown in the wake of an event that sent shockwaves around the world. The victims included children, members of the military, and people from across Colorado and the country. As accounts of the shooting began to come out, we heard more and more stories of heroics from those inside the theater. People jumped up to shield their loved ones from harm, putting their lives on the line to save the lives of others. Complete strangers helped bring the wounded outside to safety. And first responders reacted quickly and worked urgently to save lives. These are the people we honor today, who, in the face of evil, showed true courage. Mr. Speaker, we will never forget the events of July 20th, 2012. And we will never forget the lives and legacies of those who lost their lives that day.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. I thank the gentleman, the Speaker, for the additional time to continue this conversation, and thank you as well to Members for this opportunity to discuss what is truly one of the biggest issues this Congress, this Nation faces. I recently was talking to a reporter back home about the immigration debate taking place. They were asking about the Senate bill, asking about what the House was doing. And they said, Well, aren't you acting with speed? Do you feel no urgency? And my response was, Don't mistake the issue of speed with urgency, because I think the House feels every bit as urgent as this issue truly is and truly deserves the attention of how urgent the matter is before all of us. But because of that, because of the urgency to do it right, it is going to take time, a deliberative process through this body to make sure that we create that step-by-step opportunity for the people who are here legally, for people who want to come into this Nation legally, to create the border security, the border enforcement, and then to have answers for every person in this Nation. And so as we create this process, this debate, as it moves forward, every bit as urgent as any other American before us, any other person who's desiring to be a part of this country, the urgency that we all feel to make sure that this happens. And so to the gentleman from Illinois or Wisconsin or North Carolina, thank you. I yield to anyone who wishes to continue tonight.

Mr. GARDNER. That, Mr. Speaker, is the story of America. And I thank our colleagues for joining us tonight and look forward to this debate and look forward to hearing from you, the people of this country, as we enter this important conversation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin. The conversations I hear are from all angles. So whether it's from somebody whose family came here when they were very young--I know of an instance of a young woman who came into this country with her family when she was a baby. She has gone to school in the same class, same school system for 12 years, eventually graduating as a senior, number one in her class. She was brought here as a child. When she asked me about what we were going to do, I said, Your situation is an example of why we need immigration reform, so have secure borders and we know the laws are being enforced and to avoid putting you in this situation. Years later, that conversation is repeating. We don't have the reform yet, and we are still looking for that reform. And how many years have to go by before we can actually say we have secured the border, we are enforcing the law? And we know in 10, 20, 30 years, the visa program is solved, the E-Verify system is working. That labor needs, whether it is housing construction, agriculture, are being met in a system that encourages compliance with the law as part of a healthy American economy instead of an underground or a way that does it in a law- breaking fashion. I will tell you one other story. There's a doctor in the eastern plains of Colorado who was here with all of his proper documentation. Unfortunately, his mother was ill and he needed to leave the country or was hoping to leave the country to say good-bye to her. But under our system of laws, if he left this Nation, he couldn't come back. The only doctor in the county, but he couldn't go away to say good-bye to his mom because he couldn't return. We need some common sense.

Mr. GARDNER. The gentleman from Wisconsin brought up a great point, and that is the issue of a step-by-step process. That is exactly what the House is undertaking. There are at least four bills right now that are working their way through the Judiciary Committee, dealing with everything from an E-Verify system that can actually work and be used by employers around this country to know that they are hiring people who are legally eligible for employment in this country. But we also have the opportunity to address one of the other concerns that I hear at town meetings and in private conversations in grocery stores across my district, and that's so many people who say, Do we need to do anything other than just enforcing existing laws? Do we really need new laws? We have to give serious consideration to that question because the answer is, yes, we do need immigration reform. Because of the 11 million people in this country who we believe are undocumented today, 42 percent of them are here, they came here legally, entered the country legally, but overstayed their visa. So how do we reform the visa system to actually make it work so we know the integrity of the process is what it needs to be? How do we create a system for those in agriculture to know that they have a workforce that is readily available to harvest that fall's crops? Or if you're a dairy farmer, there's no one season for a dairy farmer, it's year round, so the availability of a workforce with the skills that they need, but the certainty that they need. It's those laws that we have to reform to enforce and rebuild the trust of the American people in a step-by-step process. Because if we do this, we can actually create a system of laws that avoids the mistakes of the 1986 law through enforcement first, border security first, and making sure then that we deal with the situation at hand and the people who do want to be a part of a healthy American economy.

Mr. GARDNER. I thank the gentleman from Illinois. Mr. Speaker, we're all together on the same issue tonight on the House floor as we discuss the important issue of immigration inform. Many of us elected in 2010 and elected in 2012, we came to Congress because we wanted to find ways to make America work, to get this country working again, to find ways to get government out of the way and create an economy that's strong and growing so people can find the jobs that they want to help feed their families, to send their kids to school without putting themselves into bankruptcy, and to make sure that we do indeed have a better tomorrow than we do today. So it is starting with those fundamental beliefs that we all came here to achieve, to build a stronger country, to make life work for the American families, that we recognize a Nation of immigrants, a Nation that provides an opportunity for people around the world, that beacon of hope to be a place for families to succeed, to achieve their dreams about the American Dream and indeed the American spirit. So it is through those very values of compassion for the poor, compassion for people who want to build a stronger Nation here at home, and the fairness that we know we can do it with to build a system of laws that will stand strong not just for 1 year or 10 years or 20 years, but moving forward beyond that, a system of laws that we know will make sure that people who want to be a great part of a healthy American economy indeed have that very opportunity. Tonight, as we kick off a discussion on immigration and we join people around the country who have differing opinions, as the gentleman from Illinois recognized, differing opinions on what to do, how to do it, when to do it, recognizing, though, that indeed we must do something to address a system that is broken in a way that meets those objectives of American values: compassion, fairness, and maintaining the rule of law in this country. I look forward to our conversation tonight, and I look forward to solutions for the American people that we can all be proud of, knowing that this is not going to be an easy task, but one that we will address with all due and necessary urgency. We are joined tonight by our colleague from North Carolina (Mr. Hudson).

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a valuable, job creating project that broke ground in the great State of Colorado. On June 25, Time Warner Cable unveiled an $85 million data center in Centennial, Colorado. This center will support the equipment needed to deliver digital video and IP based services to many Time Warner Cable customers and will complement the company's data center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Construction of this project will last through much of 2014 and the center will go online in January of the following year. Upgrades at the facility have been ongoing since 2011 and when the new development is complete, Time Warner Cable will have invested more than $141 million in my home State. That's a big project for any municipality, but in a town with a population of 102,603, it is an economic game changer. The jobs created by the construction and staffing of the finished facility will have an immediate impact on the town and surrounding area. Time Warner Cable's commitment to diversifying Colorado's economy and providing opportunities for Colorado's working families is to be commended.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. Speaker, I was absent for the following vote. Had I been present, I would have voted as follows: ``yes'' on adoption of the rule for Energy and Water Appropriations. personal explanation

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. I thank the gentleman from North Dakota. And I'm excited about the opportunity that we have in this country in a bright energy future. I can think of few areas that have held so much promise for job creation, for a new opportunity to impact so many areas of our economy as energy. And it really is energy policies that we're discussing this week that could create over a million jobs around the country, and the policies that we continue to pursue in committee meetings, through legislation and the work that we do to help bring a brighter energy future to this country. And I'm pleased that the gentleman from North Dakota is leading today's discussion on energy. You know, I've actually seen in my district the benefits of the Bakken Development in Colorado. Sixty miles away from my hometown is a brand-new business that located in Colorado because of so much activity in North Dakota. They were actually seeing so many people working in North Dakota that they moved to Colorado to expand their operation because they couldn't find enough people to work in North Dakota. So they moved to my district to create jobs, and they're hiring. They're manufacturing. They've bought a manufacturing business because of energy development in North Dakota. But the energy success in Colorado isn't reliant on other States around us because we have it in our State as well. In my district, the Fourth Congressional District, it is truly an all-of-the-above energy district. Not only do we have a coal mine in the Fourth Congressional District, but we have wind manufacturing, we have wind turbine manufacturing, wind blade manufacturing, we have solar manufacturing. We have biofuels and are home to one of the Nation's premier oil and gas plays anywhere in the world, the Niobrara shale play. In fact, in Colorado, over 100,000 people are directly employed or indirectly employed by the oil and gas industry. The average pay of a worker in the oil and gas fields of Colorado is almost $100,000 a year. Average pay of almost $100,000 a year, with benefits. People are able to stay in their home towns to have jobs that they never thought were possible just a decade ago. I come from a very small town in eastern Colorado; 3,000 people, 67 kids graduated in my high school class. And I can tell you, when I graduated there are only two or three of us that stayed there to work in our hometown. Everybody else moved away to find work elsewhere because they couldn't find work in that small, eastern plains community. But thanks to natural gas development, thanks to the development that's taken place around the State, they're moving back, they're bringing their families back. They're actually finding those high- paying jobs with good health care benefits, and they're building our communities and making stronger places to live for themselves and their families; $10.2 billion in labor contributions, and contribution to the labor force as a result of oil and gas development in Colorado alone. In Weld County, we've seen the impacts firsthand of what it means to have an all-of-the-above energy policy. Just two of the over-30 oil and gas companies that are operating in Weld County, just last month paid their 2011 property taxes. These two companies paid a combined property tax to Weld County alone of $150 million. Two checks, $150 million to one county; 40 percent of that $150 million went to the school districts and the community college. That's money that we're investing into the next generation of workforce in this country. That's money that is building a stronger education future for our children. But it's also developing affordable energy opportunities for this country; and so I hope that as people participate in this discussion around the United States, that they go to Twitter and send their suggestions on energy affordability with the #affordable energy, #affordable energy to participate in a discussion about the future of energy in our country. And so, Mr. Speaker, I think the opportunity that we have, really, today is to join a discussion about what we're going to look like as a Nation, how to encourage manufacturing, how to encourage new job creation, how to bring companies back to the United States who've left because of the cost of doing business. They can now afford to do business here because of our energy production and energy opportunity. So join us at #affordable energy on Twitter, and I just appreciate your leadership and the opportunity to be here with you today.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. And I don't think that there can be any doubt that that's the President's intention under his plan that he announced today. The talk, the conversation, the focus tonight is about affordable energy. And there are people sending tweets around the country right now with the hashtag to affordable energy, hashtag affordable energy, about that very subject tonight. But if you listen to the pattern of statements the President has made over the past several years, from the time he was a candidate to his administration today, as a candidate, President, then-Senator Obama said: Under my plan, energy rates will necessarily skyrocket. He said years ago that his energy plan was for energy rates to skyrocket. Just a few years later, when he nominated Secretary Chu to be Department of Energy Secretary, the Secretary of the Department of Energy said he'd like to see gas prices around $8, European level prices of gasoline, doubling what they are today. They're already too high, nearly $4 in Colorado. That's too high.

Mr. GARDNER. One of the most stunning things, of course, in the administration is their focus on regulations and a complete lack of focus on that regulation's effect on jobs. We had an assistant administrator of the EPA come and talk to the Energy and Commerce Committee about whether or not a regulation on energy production was good. And I asked a very simple question, and the question was whether or not there was a jobs analysis that was performed when they issued the regulation; did they look at whether or not jobs would be impacted by this regulation. And after 5 minutes of what can only be described as an Abbott and Costello ``Who's on First?'' kind of conversation, the answer was clearly no, that this administration did not take into account the impact energy regulations would have on job creation. And so, as we have a conversation with the country about an all- American energy plan, we have got to realize that not only does it impact the coal-fired power plant or the nuclear plant or the wind farm down the road, but it impacts our families' ability to afford a brighter future.

Mr. GARDNER. In Colorado, the district that I represent, we really do have it all. We have a coal mine, and we have wind energy. Not only the wind farms, but we have wind energy manufacturing. We have one of the Nation's most promising oil and gas plays right now in the Niobrara in Weld County. In western Colorado, we have thousands of jobs that are being created and thousands more that could be created if the government would get out of the way and approve the permits that they're holding back on. In fact, the Bureau of Land Management, if they were just to approve a handful of permits waiting right now, it could create over a hundred thousand jobs that this country could put to work right now if these permits were approved. And so we hear the President talk about an all-of-the-above energy policy and then see his actions go in a complete opposite direction.

Mr. GARDNER. One of those promising things about American energy development is not just the fact that it's creating thousands of jobs, but it's the side benefits of the revenue produced and what that revenue goes to. In fact, in Weld County, Colorado, in my district, it's probably the only county in the country that has zero bonded indebtedness because of the natural gas and oil production. They don't have any debt. If they need a road, they pay for it. They pay for it with the money that they've received out of severance tax payments from oil and gas development. Two companies paid their 2011 property taxes a couple of months ago. They paid $150 million to one single county. Forty percent of that revenue of $150 million goes to the school districts, goes to the community colleges. So not only are we able to develop affordable energy for the American people, not only are we able to put people to work but we're also doing better things for our schools and our community colleges because that revenue then turns around and goes to the core community institutions that make our country strong.

Mr. GARDNER. It is exciting, the energy future of this country. When you see studies that are being done--here's a study that I will cite right here, it says: ``America's shale oil revolution is loosening the grip of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on global oil markets.'' OPEC. Because of the work that we're doing here in this country, we're loosening the grip of OPEC. Daniel Yergin, a renowned energy expert, testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee talking about how the energy development in the United States is allowing our sanctions against Iran to work, that we're lessening their ability to sell and fund terrorism activities because we're able to produce it here in the United States, displacing around the world the sale of Iranian oil, the sale of Iranian energy. So when our colleague from Arkansas talks about the optimism that we have in this country, the people of my district who see it each and every day in little tiny towns that used to have one stop light, that now have a new housing development going up because of the production in the energy field, or traffic that they never had before because they've got activity going to and from the worksite that never existed before. People who graduated from the local high school who for the first time in their lifetimes--maybe even their parents' lifetimes-- know they can stay there in that hometown with their family, with a good-paying job and benefits because of energy development. We've talked a lot tonight about oil and gas and coal, but in Colorado we do have it all. We have wind energy and solar energy. And it's not just regulations that are blocking the traditional fossil fuels; it's regulations that are holding up wind energy projects. The ability to site a transmission line, to get the power from the wind farm to the people who use it, is being held up because of governmental regulations. And so there may be people out there who think that we're just down here talking about regulations on fossil fuels. Well, you know what? It's regulations that are holding up clean energy too. And if we truly cared about affordable energy, if we truly cared about doing something good for our country--which I believe we all do, and the American people are ready for it to happen--then we would get government out of the way and let America work. And our chance is this week.

Mr. GARDNER. I think that you bring up an excellent point about this issue of regulations, about how the President has spent all of this time developing incredibly onerous regulations that will increase the cost of electric generation. It will increase the cost to produce the electricity that each and every one of us use every day at home and at our workplace. And yet, it has taken years for him to develop this. And concentrating on this, this big announcement today, which will hurt American jobs. It will, indeed, impact negatively the middle class of this country. And yet, there's a project out there, like the Keystone XL pipeline, that he could approve today. After mountains of paperwork have been completed, environmental impact studies completed, people could be put to work today on the Keystone pipeline. Instead of focusing on putting them out of work, instead of focusing on regulations that will hurt our ability to grow the economy, like the President announced today, his plans to disarm our energy plans in this country, the fact is we could have a Keystone XL pipeline putting people back to work. People that I talk to back in my district strongly support the Keystone pipeline. There are people in Colorado that I've heard from who don't support it. And one of the questions they lead with is: You know, Representative Gardner, it's not really going to create jobs here in Colorado. Well, you know what? We know, thanks to research that's been done, done by a university, the impact of the Alberta oil sands development on U.S. State economies, in Colorado alone, the job increase, thanks to the Alberta oil sands development--and the Keystone XL pipeline is a major part of this--that we would receive about 11,200 new jobs as a result of further development of the Alberta oil sands in Colorado alone. That's 11,000-some jobs that we could benefit from because of the construction of the Keystone pipeline and further development of the Alberta oil sands. In North Carolina alone, my colleague from North Carolina, 18,400 jobs could come from further development of the Alberta oil sands, the Keystone pipeline being a critical part of that. And so today, the President announces a plan to make it more difficult to generate electricity, to increase the cost of coal-power generation. His top science adviser has said we need a war on coal. This is the President of the United States saying we need a war on coal--his administration saying that--and yet today we have an opportunity to say ``yes'' to a pipeline to create jobs in this country. So instead of putting people out of work, why don't we put people into work by approving things like the Keystone pipeline.

Mr. GARDNER. I thank the gentlelady from Alabama for her leadership tonight on this very important issue about the energy future of the United States. Mr. Speaker, she is right. The conversation that we are having isn't something that is just occurring tonight on the House floor. It's not a conversation that's just occurring inside the beltway of Washington, D.C. It's a conversation about energy that's happening in California, in Virginia, in my home State of Colorado. It's about a strong future for this country. It's about our children finding the kinds of jobs and opportunity that we know they deserve, a kind of country that is growing stronger each and every day with better jobs and a stronger and growing workplace. Tonight I hope that people, Mr. Speaker, around the country will send thoughts to #AffordableEnergy. Mr. Speaker, if they wish to join in that conversation, they'll be able to participate, and we can all see around the country what's happening with that conversation in their own homes, at their own dinner table tonight at #AffordableEnergy and what it is that they're seeing, whether their utility rates are increasing, whether they have a job in one of the shale plays booming around the country, or perhaps they're trying to find work. And energy presents an incredible opportunity for them to do just that. Often times in Washington, D.C., you see this fight break down between the House or the Senate or Republicans and Democrats unnecessarily so. We ought to be focused on what's right for this country, not what's right for a political party, not what's right for this group or that group or favoring this special interest. It ought to be about what's good for the American people, the jobs that they're trying to keep and hold on to, the college that they're trying to pay for for their kids, to build a brighter future for their family. The conversation is one that we know isn't just about left or right. That's not what energy is. Energy is about how we can produce it here in the United States, what we can do in our own backyards to create a more vibrant future. All of us have our own energy experience, whether that's as kids when we were told by our parents to make sure you turn the light off before you leave the house, go up and turn the light off in your bedroom before you go to school, or whether it's today trying to run a business, trying to make sure we're using efficient computers to lower the cost of our utility bill year after year.

Mr. GARDNER

Mr. GARDNER. Mr. Chairman, I seek recognition to offer an amendment at the desk.