Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Mr. ALLEN. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Michigan and former chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee for yielding me the time.

I am disappointed that during National Clean Energy Week we are considering a bill that fails to prioritize affordable and reliable energy for all Americans and only furthers the radical left's socialist Green New Deal priorities.

H.R. 4447 spent more than $135 billion of hardworking Americans' tax dollars while ignoring meaningful reforms of our rural communities. Specifically, they want to establish a $20 billion Federal green bank to subsidize preferred green projects at the expense of others, like nuclear energy. The bill would also exclude nuclear energy from their proposed Blue Collar to Green Collar energy workforce grant program. This is unacceptable.

Nuclear energy fuels our Nation while helping to provide America with environmental, economic, and national security. I am proud that Georgia's 12th Congressional District is home to two nuclear power plants: Plant Vogtle and Plant Hatch, almost 80 percent of Georgia Power's nuclear capacity.

This industry directly supports well-paying jobs, powers our national defense, and currently generates nearly 20 percent of our country's electricity without any carbon emissions.

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Mr. ALLEN. Madam Speaker, if my colleagues want to have a real policy discussion about clean energy and focus on solutions, they should oppose this partisan power grab and support nuclear energy.

Georgia has some of the most competitive electricity rates in the country thanks to our energy policy.

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