Paul Tonko

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Boccieri. I listened intently to our colleague from Virginia, and when Representative Perriello talked about the lack of response from the other side, the anger, perhaps, that is expressed, the politics of fear that are engaged, that those in and of themselves would be enough measure of concern. But the fact that that's coupled with an agenda that back-burnered over the last administration so much of the progress, we're reminded of a huge failure of the delivery system, the energy delivery system, in August of 2003. Here, 6 years later, we're not responding as well as we should. This measure allows us to, with a smart-metering investment, with an upgrading of the grid. You know, it was brought to our attention in very painful and dark terms, where blackouts gripped not only the Northeast and the Midwest of the U.S., but Southeast Canada, where two nations suffered from failure in the grid system. We have opportunities to embrace technology, technological improvements, advancements in smart metering and investments in the grid, to respond to that sort of failure. That was back-burnered. So were the investments in updating our renewable opportunities, investing in renewables. This measure will allow us to look seriously at renewable investments across the country. I'm also coupling that exercise with a bill that deals with wind turbine efficiency, where we'll look at materials that will allow for greater response from Mother Nature, where we're able to take the elements of nature and make them work to our energy needs, all through American jobs, to produce America's energy needs. That will enable us to take the advancements that we know are possible. We look at situations like super-conductive cable, where, in my district, they are now breaking their own records, super power is, by developing even stronger opportunities for us to reinvest and invest in innovative ways in the delivery system, in a way that, again, takes advantage of the intellectual capacity of this Nation. So this is about entering into a mix that already finds global competitors, but it advances an American agenda in a way that will place us in the role of leader. We cannot continue to sit by idly along the sidelines of this global green energy race and advance the notion that China will build all the solar systems, that Germany will embrace the same sort of renewable or advance manufacturing processes. We have opportunities here in this Nation to develop battery response through the stimulus package. I've seen what GE is working on, as it enters into this fray, to provide for an array of battery opportunities where it's not just Lithium ion that we develop but perhaps look at sodium chloride mixed with nickel, where we can address not only energy generation needs for batteries, but also the energy storage for intermittent situations, intermittent-type power, and where we can also use it for heavy fleets and lighter fleets for transportation-sector purposes. So there are tons of applications here. Just that GE battery application would find 300 to 400 jobs in my district that will enable us to provide the linchpin, to open the doors to limitless possibilities. You know, it's that sort of fervor that we saw in the sixties, in the late fifties and sixties where, as a Nation, we went forward with the boldness of definition and the expression of vision where we could be better, where we could move into a space race. And we know that we invested, and we won for that investment. We need to do that here. And clean energy jobs for every State in this Nation is a great theme. And politics of fear that respond to the efforts of progress that we have embraced just don't have a place in this mix. It is unfair to the American public, as it looks not only for job creation, but for the establishment, for the igniting of an innovation economy. And Representative Boccieri, thank you for bringing us together so that people can share thoughts of what's happening today and where we can expand and extrapolate upon that progress in untold terms.

Mr. TONKO. One of the main reasons I ran for this role in Congress was to establish a comprehensive energy policy, where we have a plan, where we act accordingly, where we update and implement that plan, and where it's all-inclusive. We haven't had that. And this is one solid way to grow jobs that are meaningful, where we are going to express and exercise our right to energy security, energy independence, and therefore, national security, which is critically important with the outcome here.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, many commissions who have advised Congress advise that the unemployment rate would continue to climb even after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were approved, simply because neglect and measures that put us into a deep hole where an administration spent down a surplus into a deep deficit was going to take a while to recover from. And so now with the investments made through that Recovery Act, I am very hopeful that in my district we will get good news, as GE, which is corporately headquartered in my district, has made application for some of the DOE moneys. Because of accountability and transparency, the President is right to make certain that all of these moneys being released are greatly accounted for. Battery investment, battery advance manufacturing in battery worlds, will allow for a diversity of battery manufacturing that will allow us not only to have these batteries used for energy generation purposes, but for actually providing for the resources for transportation fleets, both large and small, and certainly working on investments that will restore intermittent energy supplies.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. I thank the gentlewoman from Maryland, Representative Edwards. You know, you talk about the choice that empowers the consumer, that empowers families and children across the country. But there's also continuity that is important. As we look at this recession that this administration has inherited, as they struggle with it, we've been told, Go to Washington and fix the health care system. Go to Washington and provide for energy security and green up our thinking and, oh, yes, fix the economy. Well, in order to fix the economy, the health care situation is a key ingredient in the equation for success. So just why do we need to do that? Well, since this recession began, which may be one of the most devastating economic crises faced in our given lifetime, 4 million additional Americans have lost insurance. The stats are indicating that some 11,000 people per day, workers per day are losing insurance coverage. So the continuity in the equation, in the outcome is an essential ingredient, because when people lose a job or if they even choose to change a job for better opportunities or are relocating as a family, they'll have opportunity to continue in a system. That's key. That is critical. And again, not held back if they're in the midst of a catastrophic illness or have some sort of pre-existing conditions. Those sort of factors are incredible. When we're fixing the economy, again, we need to hold off that $880 billion balloon, which will expand in 10 years, that the business community will pay if it tries to keep its insurance coverage for its employees. That's a huge catastrophe waiting to happen. So this is about prevention. This is about choice. It's about continuity. And it's about utilizing our resources. The $2.4 trillion that we are historically willing to invest in a system can be used in a better way. Otherwise, that $2.4 million, Representative Murphy, turns to $4.4 million in just a matter of a decade. It is unacceptable.

Mr. TONKO. I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut.

Mr. TONKO. Representative Ryan, I want to go back to what you talked about earlier, which is common sense. I know we have to close our hour here, so I'll make this quick. There is another aspect I'd like to underscore, which is that of economic justice. When you see since 2000 that the premiums have more than doubled on average for working families in this country and that the salaries have stayed on a flat line, there is a need for us to step in and to fix a broken system. When 60 percent of bankruptcies in this country are due to medical costs, we need to step in and do something. Representative Murphy, I want to thank you for bringing us together so we can share together with the American public our messages of enhancing the quality of services, of reducing costs and of providing access for everyone as we move forward in this health care discussion and reform. Thank you so very much, Representative.

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative Murphy. Thank you for bringing us together in what is a very good exchange so that we can exchange for the sake of the American public the facts on a situation that finds us meeting a wonderful challenge that can pull us to a new day for health consumers in this country. With the leadership of President Obama and certainly with the leadership in the House, with the Speaker here in the House of Representatives and the respective Chairs, we're now developing that dialog that is long overdue, that needs to speak to the dignity of health care for each and every individual in this country. You know, I listened to the statements made by my friend Representative Edwards about those who are insured today. What is startling is to look at the business community and understand that in the last 15 years we went from a statistic where 61 percent of our small businesses offered employee health care coverage. Today, that number has dropped below 40 percent. Some 38 percent of our small businesses offer that. It's not that they have grown less compassionate or less sensitive to those needs. They simply cannot afford this system. So a plan that embraces universal insurance reform, that sharpens the pencils for our consumers, that drives the bottom-line bargain whereby it is affordable, where there's an exchange developed, where there is a plan, a customer, a consumer choice plan that will be actuarially sound, that will incorporate all of the basic health care measures essential for our families in this country, will compete with that private sector market in that exchange. That separate consumer choice plan will be sustained by premiums, not by government taxes. It will be a plan that will be modeled in a way to compete, and I believe effectively, so as to produce a market-driven outcome that is far better than what we see today. The cost of providing health care insurance by our business community is said to be about $430 billion today. In 10 years, doing nothing, we all know that that's been projected to grow to some $880 billion. We can't afford that. The plan of inaction is unacceptable. And you're right, Representative Murphy. When you talk about some of the similarities in the energy debate, there are those in this House that want to feed that discussion with facts. There are others who are happy to play with figures, and that fix has denied progress. Just this week, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Apollo mission, of landing a person on the Moon, being able to invest as a Nation because of a boldness of vision. Well, the boldness of vision here that we're now asked to respond to is about providing quality health care with reduced costs and equal access for everyone. With this exchange, there's the potential of having groups migrate toward that opportunity in areas of need, in elements of need, where 10 or fewer employee firms can join up, then moving to 20 or more, then moving to that universal system where we grow this opportunity to provide universal coverage. That is an important part of the equation. It also impacts our State governments and our Federal Government. When people talk about taxes they say, Cut that budget. Well, we can take $56 billion today of health care coverage that is provided for those who are uncompensated, $56 billion paid for by Federal and State sources, so as to allow for the care for those who simply do not have a plan. Well, we can avoid all of that. This is called preventative maintenance. We offer prevention in these plans. We provide the incentives to encourage people to move into these preventive models that will provide for outstanding benefits. This is a great opportunity to reform a system that has long been asking for reform, and we do it in a way that is consumer friendly, consumer driven, and the government stays out of that equation, as was made mention. They're not going to choose. The government is not going to choose your doctor. There are plans that empower our families and respond in a way that won't penalize them for catastrophic care, won't penalize them for preexisting conditions, won't penalize based on age, and will take care of our children in a way that shows us to be the compassionate Nation that I truly believe we are. This is a way to express it. This is a way to also be economically sound in moving forward with health care delivery so that our businesses can compete in that global marketplace, not strapped with the burdens of this system. But we do take what is good about the American system, keep it in place, and reform those elements that need to be reformed. It's a great opportunity for us to do academically sound work. And I applaud the efforts of leaders in town that are doing this with their eyes wide open, with their heart in the right place, and with the boldness of vision that they're sharing with the American public.

Mr. TONKO. I think you're absolutely right. The issues of energy reform, energy security, the issues of health care reform cannot be resolved or determined by sound bites, by bumper sticker slogans, by billboards. They need to be done in a way that establishes a healthy dialogue, academically driven, and where facts rule and fiction is set aside. What I'm proud of is that the majority here has approached this situation in a way that allows us to push forward a very, very strong bit of reforms, including those in the insurance industry.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, the House will be taking up H.R. 2920 this week, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009, otherwise known as PAYGO. This bill, sponsored by our majority leader, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), will renew our commitment to fiscal responsibility and protect core democratic values. As the President said less than 2 months ago, the pay-as-you-go rule is very simple: Congress can only spend a dollar in one place if it saves a dollar in another. Just as families cut back on eating out at restaurants to pay for a new amenity, so too must Congress make difficult balancing decisions. In fact, this rule was put in place when the country saw record deficits turn into record surpluses during the 1990s. It is no surprise to learn that when this rule was abandoned, we returned to record deficits that in turn doubled our national debt. PAYGO legislation will reestablish this requirement that turned deficits into surpluses under the Clinton administration. It is also critically important to pass PAYGO to ensure our fiscal health and stability as Congress considers health care reform legislation, a necessary item. We must be able to pay for this reform without unduly burdening our American taxpayers. To understand this critically important PAYGO legislation and the record deficits this country is facing, we must understand how we got here. We must move toward a more balanced budget which will initiate an era of fiscal responsibility and a stronger long term fiscal position. PAYGO is an important and critical piece of legislation in that process. First, a number of factors have brought us to this cash-strapped position. Under the previous administration, the PAYGO principle was abandoned, reckless tax cuts were passed for the wealthy and two wars were funded outside of the budget process. On top of that, our economy has seen one of the most severe recessions since the Great Depression. Congressional efforts to get the economy moving again have proven to be fairly effective thus far, but they have come at a price. Understanding these problems and the long term fiscal restraints, what does the PAYGO legislation do? It will require that all new policies reducing revenues or expanding entitlement spending enacted during a session of Congress be offset over 5 and 10 years. As Congress did in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, PAYGO will include an exemption for legislation designated as an emergency. PAYGO will require any future extension of upper income tax cuts to be offset, as well as force a serious examination of wasteful subsidies in the budget and tax loopholes that can be eliminated to benefit more worthwhile programs. This means that PAYGO will force advocates of tax cuts to acknowledge the costs and show how they will be paid for, as well as ensuring that we can afford to fund America's most important priorities consistently for future generations. Certain exemptions on discretionary programs funded in the appropriations process will be granted under PAYGO. These programs are the low income home energy assistance program, our Head Start program, Pell grants, the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children, and housing assistance. PAYGO will also establish an enforcement mechanism in nonexempt mandatory programs at the end of year if Congress has not already paid for the cost of all legislation enacted during that given year. Mr. Speaker, this legislation is a priority for the President. He understands, as we do, that we must balance short-term deficit spending for economic recovery with a commitment to restoring fiscal discipline in the long term. The large deficits that we inherited as a result of the reckless borrow-and-spend policies of the previous administration have put pressure on funding for important priorities such as health care, education and clean energy jobs. We must ensure that regardless of who is in power, PAYGO will be a powerful impediment to reckless tax cuts financed by debt. Mr. Speaker, the people of our country elect us to come to Washington to represent them in the best way that we can. After years of unrestrained spending, budget gimmicks and rampant waste, as well as fraud and abuse in Federal spending, it is clear we cannot continue along that same fiscal path. We are in a deep fiscal hole. However, with the right tools, including a statutory PAYGO budgeting process, we can reverse this dangerous trend and begin to put the country back on a fiscally sustainable path. Mr. Speaker, that is why I support H.R. 2920 and encourage our colleagues to do the same.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Thank you, Representative McMahon. It's a pleasure to join with you and with our colleagues from Ohio and Maryland in dealing with the facts of the matter and not with the fiction. I know that you had earlier gone through the mathematics and the calculations of the impact, as reported by the opposition in the House, as to what this is costing us. To take claim of $3,100 and basing it on a study done where the author has said you have misapplied that information from the MIT study and to grossly inflate it at $3,100 when, more appropriately, it's between the range of $65 and $80, it has an impact on a family. Then the author further addresses it by saying that it needs to be additionally calibrated to go toward the final package that was passed by the House, which has an even lesser impact. Yet leave that aside, and talk about the cost of doing nothing. Many people will lament, I'm certain, in each one of our districts, as we travel through our districts, about the job loss, about the exportation, and about the offshore/across the shore of American jobs. Well, no one is there to talk about that same impact of sending $400 billion a year to regimes that are unfriendly, that are terrorist in nature, that are certainly not the most secure or stable governments in the world, and we're supplying $400 billion a year. That is the cost today. That is a tax. Call it what you want. It is a tax on the American public. We can go forward and address, in a more secure and energy-independent manner, the sort of solutions that will then grow American jobs. American clean energy jobs are what this whole proposal is about. So it speaks to our sustainable quality that we can encourage that which allows us to grow energy security. How so? Well, the Union of Concerned Scientists has said that the renewable electricity standards in our package in the House version will produce well over 300,000 jobs. Then we also have the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy that is talking about energy efficiency standards that are, again, part and parcel to this package that will grow over 225,000 jobs. So there, just in a sampling of what can happen, you see how American jobs begin to grow and how they get cultivated from this very aspect of legislation. Those are real jobs. Those are factual bits of information that need to be exchanged and shared with the American public. People know that our destiny here is controllable by our own actions. They know that. They want us to go forward. They want us to grow this green energy market. They want us to be able to respond in analytical terms where we embrace the intellectual capacity of this Nation and where we grow those technical jobs. There are incentives in this legislation. There are those underpinnings of support to, again, foster those kinds of jobs so that we can stretch this innovation economy and so that we can enhance the number of jobs that are science-and-tech related or are coming through ancillary forces out there that further extrapolate the good outcome and that grow the jobs that are so essential. American jobs producing American power to then retrofit all of that activity into the American job market: manufacturing, making it more efficient. We want to keep jobs here. Let's produce a package that retrofits American manufacturing centers to allow them to produce a product wisely, more effectively, efficiently, and then, yes, more competitively in the global market. It all begins with sound energy policy. They don't want to face those facts. They just want to use applications of fear and say it will cost every family $3,100 when they have been defied in that statement by the very author of the study they cite. That is unacceptable, and the public deserves better than that. They deserve the facts that show how we can grow jobs, how we can create United States' jobs--American jobs--and how we can make us a global technology leader. We need to do it so that we can compete globally. If we're not creating these products, if we're not implementing those sorts of changes, we're falling drastically behind places like China, Germany and Japan, and we can continue to list those countries. It's imperative that we do this.

Mr. TONKO. It is a pleasure to join with all of my colleagues in this colloquy. Just yesterday and today in this Nation's Capital, a number of people got to meet the Apollo crew. They got to shake hands with astronauts that made history. They set foot on the Moon. We won a space race that took and demanded a huge investment by this Nation in science, technology, in growing our intellectual capacity, in creating a vision, in stating in bold measure how we were going to reach that goal. We're at that same moment of challenge. Just think of it. If we had allowed defectors that perhaps divided us or shared misinformation or preached politics of fear, we perhaps wouldn't have won that race. And that was so critically valuable and important to the American Nation, to Americans at large. That same sort of challenge, that sort of boldness of leadership, the demands for truthful exchange are upon us today, and to grow these opportunities, we'll deal with the facts. And I'm impressed by this House for the leadership and the membership that has really embraced that sort of factual information and advanced an agenda like the legislation that we're proposing and promoting here this evening. You know, when we look at situations, as Representative Boccieri made comment, we can grow jobs but we can also grow intellect. We need to grow the brain trust of this Nation. This measure invests in that development of the human infrastructure. And certainly when Representative Kratovil talked about previous administrations through the decades talking about reducing our demands on foreign importation of oil, 60 percent of what we consume today imported from some of the most troubled spots in the world with unstable governments, it's more than that. We have a gluttonous dependency. Efficiency can reduce the demand side, and for far too long we did not have a comprehensive energy policy in this Nation. We addressed only the supply side and ignored the demand side. Well, now we're talking about both sides of that equation: producing our own supplies and reducing per capita usage of that precious resource. That's what this is about. Now we talk about innovation. We talk about growing those jobs. All of us have cited moments in history that have inspired us. I represent the city of Schenectady in upstate New York, dubbed the city that lights and hauls the world. Just over a century ago, they were the epicenter of invention and innovation. They allowed the world to be changed by the simple dynamics of creative genius in that location and an outstanding workforce. Blue collar, white collar workers that rolled up their sleeves and got the job done. Over a century later, we're at that same point where we need an energy revolution. This Nation is poised for that sort of development. Are we going to walk away? I don't think so. I think it's that boldness of leadership that will bring us to the point that we need to be. And speaking of GE, as a center in that city of Schenectady, they are already inspired by this legislation because we have advanced within the framework and the multiple needs that are addressed by this legislation, battery innovation, advanced battery manufacturing, batteries that can respond to energy generation, batteries that can respond to storage of intermittent power like wind and solar, and batteries that can address transportation sectors, both heavy fleets and lighter fleets. They have a battery application that they believe can respond to those multiple needs. And they have proposed, at a press conference, to be the site in my district to do advanced battery manufacturing. They are competing for the dollars that are part of this package if it is successful and certainly working on the input that came from the stimulus package, from the Recovery Act. Working with those applications, they want to go forward and make certain that we can build in this State of mine, in New York State, and your State, Michael, in a way that will have 350 to 400 jobs in the manufacturing sector of advanced batteries. That is progress. That is stability. That is security. That is a greening up of thinking. That is job growth. That is intellectual capacity that is stretched to a far greater degree. And think of it again. 40 years ago this week, we accomplished our goal because we committed to that goal. We didn't stand up in a House of Representatives and deny the facts or twist the facts or reject the truth. It all began with an honest exchange, and that's what we're doing here. We're going the make certain that the facts are addressed.

Mr. TONKO. I thank Congressman McMahon. Representative Boccieri asked what is the cost of doing nothing. Well, beyond the lack of progress that we should taste in this Nation, it is the denial of this generation's children and grandchildren who will need those career paths developed by us. We need to cultivate that thinking that will allow them to have these new energy jobs, these new environmental jobs, these new plans for economic recovery. That is what gets really lost in the discussion. When China's now the number one producer of solar panels in the world, when Germany's number two export after cars is wind turbines, when six of the 30 top advanced battery-manufacturing solar and wind companies are American, we need to do better than we're doing today. As I made mention, the space race of decades ago was an investment made by this Nation in robust fashion. Today, we're in a green energy race with far many more global competitors. Whoever wins this becomes the go-to nation. They will be the exporter of energy ideas, energy intellect, energy invention. Do we want to deny this generation, future generations from those concepts, from that prize? I don't think so, and if we're going to deny them, let's at least deal with the facts. Let's talk factually. Let's not create a $3,100 price tag when we've been warned over and over again by the author of that study that it is grossly inflated. Let's move forward factually. Let's move forward in green fashion. Let's provide for an innovation economy. Let's speak to the generations of Americans that are counting on us to do a job, do it thoroughly, do it directly.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Mr. Chair, on rollcall No. 498, I was unavoidably detained at a science and technology subcommittee hearing, as I was questioning a witness who had presented testimony on energy turbine efficiency. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.'' Part B Amendment No. 2 Offered by Mr. Brady of Texas

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chair, as you know, small businesses are the engine that will repower America's economy. Research and innovation in the small business venue have greatly contributed to advances in science and technology across the board. In fact, the city of Schenectady in my congressional district, the ninth largest city in New York State, was nicknamed ``The Electric City'' after Thomas Edison moved his company Edison Machine Works there in 1887, which was later followed by the opening of GE headquarters in 1892. Today we are considering H.R. 2965, the Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act of 2009. I rise in full support of H.R. 2965. This program has proven to be one of the most successful Federal programs for technological innovation in United States history, delivering more than 60,000 patents and hundreds of valuable innovations in agriculture, in defense, in energy, in health sciences, homeland security, space, transportation and other fields. Through Phase I and Phase II SBIR, countless jobs have been created in the capital region of New York State. It is through programs such as SBIR that my district has developed the underpinnings of support for a boom in high technology innovation and economic development. In fact, just over a month ago a constituent of mine, Dr. James Woo of Interscience, Inc. in Troy, New York, was at a national conference in Virginia. This conference was to showcase Navy SBIR Phase II projects to program managers and large defense contractors for transition. A great majority in attendance supported protecting the small business opportunities that have been part of this program. The reason is because small, innovative companies should have a genuine place at the Federal table. This place is for backyard inventors and local contractors, for small and very small businesses where the research is not likely a breakthrough in technology but a breakout of implementation. At a time when our national unemployment is at 9.5 percent, we should do everything in our power to strengthen small businesses that generate 70 percent of new jobs in our country. It is important that we continue to favor small, innovative businesses. There's simply no more effective way to boost our economy than to support the small business innovation that creates new jobs, new technologies and new American industries. If the tavern was the cradle of democracy, then the garage is the cradle of enterprise.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Madam Speaker, today I come to the floor to urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy Security Act. As you know, I represent a state that has been a leader in the nation when it comes to renewable energy standards and energy efficiency activity. New York was the first state in the country to adopt a state renewable energy standard and is currently ranked as one of the most energy efficient states per capita in the nation. I am proud to say H.R. 2454 will allow New York to continue these successful programs and push us even further in a positive direction. Working with, and on behalf of, the New York delegation, I was able to work with Chairman Waxman and Chairman Markey to include language which allows states like New York to have the flexibility to be in control of their own compliance. This flexibility is vital if New York is to continue its great progress in renewable energy and energy efficiency activities. This bill allows New York State to build upon a strong record of demand reduction. Otherwise, a commitment of several years would be required to set up a new system in our state with its proven results. In addition to the flexibility language, the bill includes provisions allowing market transformation initiatives to count towards the energy efficiency standard. It also addresses the issue of transportation emissions and transportation planning and makes it consistent with current state policy. Finally, the bill includes an improvement that I recommended concerning efficiency of natural gas turbines. H.R. 2454 creates a $65 million competitive grant program specifically for research and development of more efficient natural gas turbines used for power production. The goal of the program would be to raise the efficiency of these turbines to 65 percent. Currently, the most efficient turbines operate at 60 percent. A one percentage point improvement in efficiency alone, applied to existing turbines, would reduce CO2 emissions by 4.4 million tons per year and provide fuel savings of more than $1 billion per year. The innovation and the technology advancement that this bill aims to promote will see benefits for future generations. As we did during the Space Race so many years ago, we must turn towards innovation and leadership on the energy front to lead the world again. This is a global race for clean, green energy that we cannot afford to lose. Madam. Speaker, with the collective energy of the President and the Congress, this bill will create new and enduring policies which will promote cleaner, more efficient, and more independent sources of energy that will positively influence all of America's energy demands as well as jobs and career paths of the future. I urge my colleagues to join me and vote in favor of HR. 2454. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Madam Speaker, we make great strides towards solving our future energy needs by focusing on a process that has been virtually ignored for the past 8 years, research and development. Time and again, our economy has been pushed forward by a spirit of innovation. It has been pushed forward by a spirit that a century ago ignited an energy revolution started right in the heart of the 21st Congressional District with General Electric. Less than half a century ago, President Kennedy announced the space race in response to Sputnik. We now have that opportunity again. But when one considers the global context, it's easy to see that the United States is falling woefully behind. The House of Representatives is considering the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which would create millions of clean energy jobs, put America on the path to energy independence, and cut global warming pollution. China is investing $12.6 million every hour towards clean energy. With this kind of deficit, we stand to lose our place in the world as it relates to our energy security, and that is a finished product we simply cannot afford to import.

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 332 I was unable to vote due to the fact that I was meeting with constituents. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. TONKO

Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. And, you know, we will have to pay some other nation for their ideas. When we spoke the other day with the SEEC Caucus, of which both of you made mention, with the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, the Green Dogs, so-to-speak, in the 111th Congress, we heard from the most recent energy minister, past energy minister, that a lot of American know-how and patents were being utilized in Denmark. Well, if we are coming up with this intellectual capacity and this brain power, what a shame if we don't invest it for our own benefit. So the time is now to move. The time is long past that we have a comprehensive energy plan for this Nation. And it was one of the motivations for me to run for Congress, so that we could come here and do those sound policies that will move us into a new era of energy thinking, eclipsing us from a political generation of denial.

Mr. TONKO. Mr. Polis, if I might, to the comments made by Representative Connolly of Virginia, and I thank him for his insight, to those comments I would add that as we achieve those efficiency outcomes, we are also cleaning the environment. We have the moral responsibility to make certain that our children, our grandchildren, generations that will follow us, do not get handicapped by some sort of situation out there like climate change, global warming, the carbon footprint, that will destroy our environment. The air we breathe is essential, and as stewards today of the environment that we inherited, we must pass it on to further generations, future generations, in a state that is acceptable, clean and better, improved, so that we can achieve that. While we are on the battery situation, I would just make quick mention of GE. Their corporate headquarters are in Schenectady, which is housed within the 21st Congressional District within New York State, which I represent. GE recently announced its intentions to build an advanced battery manufacturing center in the capital district region of New York. That will provide some 350 to 400 jobs for a state-of-the-art battery that will deal with sodium chloride and nickel as a combination, adding to the diversity. There are lithium-ion batteries that are spoken of and other sorts of batteries that are being encouraged. This provides for diversity, which is sound for our mix. It is good for our energy choices. That battery will be able to be used for heavy vehicles. That is important. It can be used for intermittent energy storage, and it can be utilized also for energy generation. So the transportation sector, the energy generation and energy storage areas can all be addressed by this battery innovation. That is the key that can unlock the door to immense potential and opportunities of all kinds. So we are at the cusp, I believe, of tremendous discoveries here that will allow us to compete effectively in this global race to be the energy go-to nation.

Mr. TONKO. Sometimes the issue comes across in such a complex picture that it's difficult for people to get their arms around what the discussion is all about. To repeat what I mentioned earlier about the hundreds of billions of dollars that we have been spending that go to foreign nations that import to us these fossil-based fuels, we need to see this as an embracing of the American intellect, to take ideas that are there shelf-ready and put them to work for us. It's, quite simply, American power to power America. It is providing our opportunity to utilize the American workforce to produce this power that then powers this country to do all that it needs to do. It provides great opportunities for manufacturing sectors, and for our business communities, small and large, because I witness firsthand what happens when we retrofit these facilities, even our dairy farms in New York State, with state-of-the-art opportunities for efficiency. Where you need to use fuel for the power that you're using, let's use it efficiently. That's good for the environment; it's good for the economy. It's good for the energy equation. But in many cases we'll be able to produce that power we need with no fuel cost. So the $475 billion that has been spent annually that goes outside this Nation's boundaries is a fuel cost. We won't have that fuel cost when we benignly utilize our wind, our sun, our soil and our water. And I think that's an effective way to approach a situation where we allow for the brain power of this country that is invested in, when people choose their career paths. We want to make certain that all that investment in the classroom and on the college campuses and in the private sector through its R&D opportunities of workforce training and development, we want to put that to work here. And we have those available solutions. We need to go forward with that sort of concept. And, again, it takes a vision. I believe this public, the American public, joins in the efforts when a vision is painted for them. It's been painted in bold green measure by President Obama. His administration is taking us to a new level of thinking. The Speaker of the House, the leadership in this House, the Members, the rank and file Members of the majority know this is the right thing to do. And it takes that boldness of vision and that determination, the integrity to move us to this new economy, and it will happen.

Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. Mr. Polis, I would add this: As Representative in Colorado, like any of us as Representatives, we have seen far too many of our sons and daughters lost in the efforts to, in our involvement in the Mid East. Some of this money is going to those nations that we are now fighting against with the war on terrorism and the war in the Mid East. And so it really behooves us to think in newer terms, in bolder terms, in ways that build our independence, our security and our national security, which is critically important to us as we speak.

Mr. TONKO. Representative Polis, I believe that even T. Boone Pickens has said we are not going to drill our way out of this given crisis. This energy crisis needs to be addressed in a constructive way. The constructive way reminds us that there are ways to produce power, as you suggest, without a fuel cost. And then our fuel of choice needs to be energy efficiency. That plant which we never built simply because we have reduced demand by a given order of megawatts is then allowing us to avoid the construction of a larger facility. And we can do that. When you look at the size of this Nation, the population, the business sector, any 1 percent of improvement translates into a huge supply, as Representative Connolly mentioned earlier, of power saved. And the demand side of the equation was not addressed by the previous administration. It was supply, supply, supply: How much more can we create and let people consume? We have some of the most gluttonous consumption in the entire world. And we know that there are ways to allow us to be more efficient and to provide those savings by addressing demand-side solutions. And I think that's where this plan is taking us also.

Mr. TONKO. And also, Representative Polis, I think it's important to note that controlling your destiny when it comes to energy choices, having those American options available, having the production here domestically enhanced, having the efficiency tools that we require, not only utilized that are shelf-ready, but to develop additional product lines that can create these, given opportunities, smart meters in which we invested this year with the stimulus package, with the Recovery Act, are a great way to provide for control over your energy consumption and your bills, to utilize off-peak where possible, and to have a smarter opportunity presented for us as consumers. That's all available with technology today. And as we further develop these packages that will enable consumers to control their energy destiny, it's a great thing as we develop this American power to power America. It's a wonderful concept.

Mr. TONKO. Absolutely. And, Representative Polis, I would go back to an earlier statement that I made. We're all talking about how we can improve our economy, address our energy crisis, address our environmental crisis, but at the same time, we need to bear in mind that this is the way we draw attention to this Nation and her intellectual capacity, where we become the exporter of energy thinking, of energy ideas, of innovation. This is the strengthening of the economy. As people invest in this economy, in the American know-how, we then become even stronger as we develop the solutions for our air that we breathe, the water that we drink, and certainly the soil that we utilize for our own opportunities and routine opportunities throughout life. We can then become this go-to nation, which is as critical today, if not more critical, than the space race was in the Sixties, which we won because we committed to thinking in new terms, in bolder terms. Change is not easy. Change is not easy to get our arms around. But change is what we ought to be about as leaders of legislative policy that can then take this country into new orders of job development and energy policy.

Mr. TONKO. And I will add, if I may, that there are those industries that are energy intensive and trade intensive. And those are the focal points that we can provide where there needs to be this assistance--if you can produce something at less cost, which becomes a reality if you provide energy retrofits that make it more efficient, some of these industries that are energy intensive, when improved upon, where you utilize, as Representative Heinrich said, your resources more wisely and effectively, that produces a lower cost of production of that given product and so it makes you more competitive in the global marketplace.