Energy

ENERGY -- (House of Representatives - February 27, 2008)

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Mr. ELLISON. Representative Klein, thank you, and your introduction was excellent because it really does set the stage for this new energy future that America is walking into.

Today, the House considered H.R. 5351 which would end unnecessary subsidies to big oil companies and invest in clean, renewable energy and energy efficiency. It is similar to the House bill passed, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act passed as part of a bipartisan energy package in August 2007.

And I just want Americans to know that when you sent this class, this 110th Congress, this freshman class here to Washington, you expected that we would take a step in favor of our energy future. And I want you to know that we are doing that. We are stepping into that energy future, putting innovation, putting incentives into the hands of people who are going to make the difference, and we are putting the best interests of the American people forward.

As I think about our energy future, I think about it every time I walk up to the pump, Representative Klein. Every time I go to the pump, I am reminded of why we need a new energy future. I remember back in 2001 when I would be able to put that gas pump in the tank, and I think I was paying somewhere around $1.50 a gallon. Well, that is not so today. You and I both, whether you are in Florida or Minnesota, or whether you are in California or Arizona, you are probably paying somewhere north of $3, somewhere close to $3. And that is double what I remember paying. And that is wrong.

And this is especially at a time when we are seeing energy prices go up and food prices go up, because it costs money to get food from one place to another, and we see family budgets being pinched. We are in the middle of this subprime mortgage crisis. And it is time that we get a handle on our energy future, get a handle on not only the issue of global climate change, not only on the issue of pollution, but on the issue of cost to the American consumer that we get our hands on top of this important issue.

So as I hand it back to you, Representative Klein, let me just say that the big five oil companies recently reported record profits in 2007. ExxonMobil earned $40.6 billion, the largest corporate profit in American history. These profits, well, I just want to say that the American taxpayer, we are paying a whole lot more, and it might be going pretty good for some folks, but a lot of the rest of us are hurting.

So let me toss it back to you, Representative Klein, and thank you for leading the charge today on this new energy future.

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Mr. ELLISON. Let me just lend my voice and agree with you. I do believe that the oil companies do not need any more help from the American taxpayer. It's time to repeal these tax breaks and credits, and I am glad that we have done so. I just want to say that the 110th Congress, this Congress that you and I came in as freshmen, as majority makers, really has been productive in the area of energy.

I am so glad that within the first 100 hours, and I know Congressman Klein, you will remember the first 100 hours, that we passed a bill to repeal tax breaks to the big oil companies and to incentivize production of clean and renewable sources. And then, of course, it was just last year that we passed the bill for CAFE standards. So many Congresses, so many years passed where we had no CAFE standards to speak of, no increases in the CAFE standards. Now we are at 35 miles per gallon. I think we should look at this not as some great victory but as a start down the road of progress.

And then again today we passed this I think historic bill and it signals change. It signals change. It signals that the United States Congress is serious about our renewable future. It signals a change that we can have a future where we can have air that we can breathe, where we can be at peace with our environment and not warm up the globe to the degree that no life can live on it, or that the changes in the world temperatures will be so drastically changing that we can't sustain life as it exists now.

And I think that we can also live in a future where we can get around and have transportation that is affordable and make some sense and actually is something that we can all live with and all participate in. But I think that these changes that we have seen in the 110th Congress, the 100 hours, CAFE standards and then today, signal that we are going in the right direction.

We need the American people to continue to fuel the movement that we are on. And one thing we are doing here tonight is trying to let you know what we have done and then ask for your continued participation. Because the American people are demanding change, and I think that the 110th Congress is giving it to you.

Let me just say that those statistics that were just shown about oil profits earned, I just think it is very important to bear in mind that as oil profits have been skyrocketing, the average person that we have seen increases in prices in everything from food to fuel, we have also seen inflationary tendencies, and we have also seen increase in unemployment. We are in a time where clean, renewable energy and a new path towards energy is something that everyone needs, and it is something that I think our entire society, our entire economy, oil companies included, need to take a part in and need to look at the tremendous bounty they have received from being able to be an American corporation and saying that, look, we are going to do something to participate.

I would like to see our oil companies take some of their own profits and invest it into renewable energies. I would like to see them take some of the great bounty they have received and make a commitment to the American people to get into a green future. So again, what we see today is signaling change, sending us in the right direction, and I look forward to going much, much further.

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Mr. ELLISON. Let me just say that I agree with you. You have to understand that when you borrow all this money to fund the government, you have to pay that back. And that payback accounts for a part of your budget which squeezes out other things you might really want to do. So pay as you go has a whole lot of merit, and I'm glad we are not adding already to the enormous debt. As you know, when this President came into office, he inherited a fairly significant budget surplus. But that is yesterday.

One of the things I want to mention, Congressman Klein, about this important bill, is that provisions are critical to creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying, green collar American jobs. This issue of jobs, green collar jobs, is critical. Green collar jobs are jobs perhaps in the construction industry where people would help retrofit old buildings in order to make them more fuel efficient. For example, green roofs on buildings, more fuel efficiency in buildings, construction jobs, jobs that people can earn a good wage in.

I think it is important to understand that part of the new energy future that we are talking about takes into consideration not just the scientists who are going to be working in labs and not just the folks who are going to be working on the policy issues, but actually hardworking Americans who work every single day to put food on the table for their families. The green collar job is something I think we have to pay close attention to. And as you may know, our farm bill actually included a provision about green collar jobs, which is very important. I was happy to be a part of that.

The preservation of existing jobs relies on these green collar jobs as well. A recent study showed that allowing the renewable energy incentives to expire would lead to about 116,000 jobs being lost in the wind and solar industries through the end of 2009.

Now this is a big deal, because if we incentivize the production of clean, renewable energy, of wind, of solar, of biomass, of cogeneration, of other forms of energy production, it has the effect of spinning off more and more employment. And, of course, as I led in before, the first part of creating a green future for America is in conservation. That which we save, we never have to use energy to fuel. And so in this area of conservation, as I mentioned before, all kinds of jobs in the area of construction, in the area of so many things that would allow people who can make a good honest living and at the same time preserve our energy future and make our economy cleaner and make our economy one in which everybody can even avoid the health risks associated with some of the burning of hydrocarbons.

So, again, green collar jobs is a big part of what we did today, a big part of what we have been doing, and I am proud to be associated with that.

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