Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND SECURITY ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - December 06, 2007)

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Ms. MATSUI. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support this historic and long-overdue legislation. Today's bill offers geopolitical and economic security, environmental sustainability, and significant cost savings for American consumers.

It is a strategy to fight global warming. It is a compromise that raises fuel efficiency standards. It is an investment in a new generation of manufacturing jobs.

This bill creates a world where American resources and ingenuity are used to make American energy, not to import it from other countries.

The bill raises CAFE standards for the first time since 1975. As a result, each American family could save up to $1,000 a year at the pump. That alone should be reason enough for every Member of Congress to support this compromise.

But today's bill does even more. It frees us from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil. By 2030, it will save Americans more than double the level of oil we currently import from the Persian Gulf That amounts to more than 4 million barrels saved every single day.

This energy package also invests in the American people by creating three million green jobs over 10 years.

With this bill, Mr. Speaker, we are forging an entirely new kind of economy--a clean energy economy. My hometown of Sacramento is the perfect example of a community that will contribute to this new energy economy.

We have a growing clean-energy industry that is poised to take off. Our local utility already produces power from solar, wind, and methane gas. More and more of our region's homes, businesses, and vehicles are powered by renewable energy.

However, my constituents need help from the Federal Government to bring this new energy economy into the mainstream.

That is why I am proud to stand before the House today in support of this revolutionary energy package. It makes landmark investments in the energy economy that is developing in Sacramento and in likeminded cities across our great Nation.

The biofuels this bill develops will power my constituents' cars. New fuel efficiency standards will help them save money on gas. They will work some of the millions of green-collar jobs it creates. This energy bill helps Sacramento continue to lead our country's energy revolution.

One of the cornerstones of this revolution is a renewable portfolio standard. My home State of California already has such a standard. So do more than 20 other States. I have seen this progressive policy in action, Mr. Speaker, and it has contributed greatly to my home State's groundbreaking efforts to increase the use of clean power and forestall global warming.

I am pleased that a renewable portfolio standard has been included in this comprehensive energy package. What works for our states can--and will--work for the entire country.

Mr. Speaker, in Congress we often talk about creating a better future for our children and grandchildren. Today's energy bill will create this better future. It is a future of energy independence, clean power, fuel-efficient vehicles, and economic growth.

I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.

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