FISA Amendments Act of 2007
Floor Speech
FISA AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - February 05, 2008)
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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business for up to 15 minutes and that the time not be counted against the debate on the FISA legislation.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
STIMULUS PACKAGE
Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about clean energy production tax credits, investment tax credits, and the energy efficiency provisions in the pending stimulus package, which I think are critical to restoring economic growth in America and continuing what is a burgeoning industry that is helping us create jobs and economic stimulus across our country. We are talking about tax credits that are a proven stimulus and business investment. They give consumers, in this case, energy efficiency credits of up to $500 to make energy efficiency improvements to their homes, which could save homeowners as much as $800 per year in avoided energy costs. We are talking about $20 billion of stimulus and 116,000 jobs that could be impacted.
The bottom line is the renewable energy industry generated over $40 billion of revenue in 2006 and accounted for 450,000 direct and indirect jobs last year. So we know that clean energy is one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy. But by failing to act when we didn't pass these critical tax incentives last year, we caused turbulence in what is a very new and growing industry. And if the Senate rejects these incentives now, we could put this industry in a tailspin by not giving them predictability on their tax credits. That is why it is so important we pass the stimulus package tomorrow.
Let's talk about what we are hearing from some of those in the industry who know this sector very well. The Alliance to Save Energy, a group of business, government, and consumer leaders, committed to seeing this country take advantage of cost savings from efficiency have said:
Energy efficiency tax incentives put money into the economy by encouraging the purchase of energy efficient products and services.
This group has representatives of this body as part of that alliance. Their job is to advocate for policies to help this industry grow. What are we hearing from particular industries? I like this chart particularly because so many of my colleagues--I do it, and so many on the other side, and even the President of the United States speaks at these various clean energy industry plant sites and advocate and are excited about the jobs they create. But sometimes it stops there and after the ribbon cutting they fail to support the necessary policies.
That is why recently a particular solar company CEO made this statement:
The Senate can ensure that we keep the economic engine moving forward and extend the solar tax credits as part of the economic stimulus bill.
That is directly from the solar industry that we politicians like to stand in front of and talk about jobs being created. Here is somebody who was the prop behind one of these events in the last week, and they are telling us to pass this tax credit in the stimulus package.
What are we hearing from a consortium of those in the industry? We are hearing from one consolidated report of the renewable industry that said:
Over 116,000 U.S. jobs, and nearly $19 billion--
This is just on solar, wind, and other renewable electricity sources-- nearly $19 billion in U.S. investment could be lost in one year if renewable energy tax credits are not renewed by Congress.
That report came out earlier this week.
The reason why people are so concerned about this is because what we have seen traditionally--and we can see on this chart that in 2000, 2002, and 2004 where we did not give predictability to this industry by saying we are going to continue the tax credit policy--what happened is a 93-percent drop in investment; in 2000. In 2002, a 73-percent drop in investment; and again in 2003, another 77-percent drop in investment.
Here is where this industry is now in 2007. It is a growing industry. As I said, in 2006, it was $40 billion in revenue and over 450,000 direct and indirect jobs. And we are about to kill this level of investment and put it into a tailspin by not continuing this tax policy.
In fact, that is exactly what this solar industry CEO, who had the pleasure of standing there with Governor Schwarzenegger and others, said. He said Federal tax credits for solar energy are about to expire. They are about to expire and it will send the solar industry into a tailspin.
It doesn't have to get any clearer than that: CEOs of companies that are the backdrop of great press events telling us we are about to send their industries into a tailspin. I suggest we instead pass these tax incentives and get on with what could be certainty in tax policy.
What I like about wind is the fact that it is happening in lots of places across this country, but it is also giving farmers a second crop. Almost 200 members of the American Wind Energy Association have sent us a letter saying that ``companies in our industry are already reporting a decrease in investment as a result of the uncertainty surrounding tax policy.'' They are saying they are already seeing people starting to cancel projects.
We want to help our economy grow, and there is stimulus in these tax incentives, but I ask my colleagues to consider what is going to happen when they do not renew them. They are actually going to cause more damage to the economy because people are going to start canceling projects.
Let me explain. This same report by Navigant came out earlier this week and got very specific as to which States had significant investment by renewable companies and exactly what was going to happen both in the loss of opportunity for new jobs and in actually having jobs cut when there is not predictability.
Texas, one of the biggest investors from a wind production side, could lose a future opportunity and existing jobs of upwards of 23,000; Colorado, 10,000; Illinois, 8,000; Oregon, 7,000; Minnesota, 6,000 plus; Washington State, nearly 5,000 jobs are at stake. The list goes on to other States that have made incredible progress in renewable energies that are creating jobs, and all these jobs are at stake for the future and some of them represent jobs where people are getting a paycheck today. Instead, they will take our rebate check, if we pass the House bill, and they will receive a pink slip because their jobs are not going to be there anymore. That is why we have to pass this package.
In fact, I want to give examples of two specifics where people will actually lose jobs.
Noble Environmental Power is developing projects for wind in New York and Texas, and they plan to construct two parks in New York State and two in Texas. If the production tax credit is not extended, these projects will not be built which will eliminate 1,200 full-time construction jobs. That is 600 jobs in each State.
In addition, the company in its head count will be cut from 220 to 120 because they will also cut other jobs related to planning. In fact, if we do not give them this predictability this year, in 2008, $200 million in orders for equipment will be canceled. That is stimulus, $20 million that will not be made because they do not have certainty and they are going to cancel their plans for equipment.
Additionally, $18 million in engineering services are going to be canceled because they do not have predictability in this Tax Code.
Again, if the production tax credit is not extended, 600 full-time construction jobs will be eliminated in each State, New York and Texas.
Another example. Safeway, which is a major grocery store chain, is planning on retrofitting additional stores with solar panels. Why are they doing that? Because they know they can get offset rising energy costs out of those solar panels. They are looking at 15 additional stores with solar panels and injecting an additional $30 million into the economy if the solar investment credit is extended. If it is not extended, these jobs are going to be in jeopardy.
Here are companies trying to help us stimulate the economy, create jobs, lower energy costs, and I am sure that helps with the bottom line of food costs in America, and yet we are not giving them predictability.
We also saw in my home State of Washington a company, Wellons, a leader in wood-fired energy systems, say they are going to mothball up to 20 projects unless they get the production tax credit. That means that some of the 500 people in this particular company will be laid off.
I think the Arizona Republic said it best. In fact, they had an editorial this week that said:
The economic stimulus package from Congress ..... should include an extension of tax credits for renewable energy sources. For Arizona--
And I think this is similar for many other States, but Arizona is a leader in this area-- the continued development of our solar industry is at stake.
That is why we need these credits. We had today the Los Angeles Times say:
Investors won't pump money into clean power if there is a danger of losing their tax incentives ..... green technology is an extremely promising growth industry that could help make up for the loss of manufacturing jobs.
That is another editorial from today.
We know this, and yet we somehow want to pretend that the elimination of these tax credits does not matter. I know it matters to Governors because we have heard from the Governors of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin:
We know that uncertainty of the future of a wind production tax credit must be avoided if this burgeoning industry is going to thrive in the years ahead.
So we are hearing from our Governors who are on the ground wanting to approve these projects knowing how much they mean to their local economies, and yet we are ignoring that.
We also heard from a growing industry partner, the American Corn Growers Association. They said:
If President Bush will agree with the inclusion of the production tax credit in the stimulus package, he will be adding numerous jobs to our economy.
Why is that? Because this industry sees that this is a good partner. It is actually helping them with additional revenue, and it is helping those Midwest economies continue to grow.
What about the National Farmers Union, another organization, which said:
Encourage your support including important renewable energy tax incentives in the economic stimulus package currently being considered by Congress.
The Farmers Union obviously knows this means jobs in their local economy. But for them, it also means that instead of paying the high prices of natural gas and not having any product compete with it, that having renewable energy generate an additional 6,000 megawatts of power can actually get alternative sources of electricity in the market and lower the demand on natural gas and thereby lowering the price. That helps lower the cost of fertilizer. It is critically important.
This past week, we had 41 Senators sign a letter, including 14 of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who agree that:
Extending these expiring clean energy tax credits will help ensure a stronger, more stable environment for new investments and ensure continued robust growth in a bright spot in an otherwise slowing economy.
I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record this letter of bipartisan support.
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Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, we also received letters from 13 different organizations that also support the inclusion of these provisions in the tax package.
This is truly an opportunity for us to continue to stimulate the economy in a key growth area, but my colleagues should not be fooled. This is probably the only opportunity to do extend these credits before they expire. We have had a dispute between the House and the White House and Members of the Senate about how to move forward on these tax credits. Some want them paid for while taking money from oil revenues. Others, such as the White House, don't want them paid for at all.
This is an opportunity for us if we are going to do $150 billion worth of investment in what we think is an economic opportunity to get one of the best returns on investment in this stimulus package; that is, to invest about $5 billion and see over $20 billion in new energy investment in this country.
I hope my colleagues will consider this tomorrow and consider how much we truly need these budding clean energy industries to grow and thrive in our home States. Anyone who supports this industry has to vote for the Senate Finance bill or we could very well miss a key opportunity to stimulate our economy.
I yield the floor.
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