Green Energy Tax Credits

Floor Speech

GREEN ENERGY TAX CREDITS -- (Senate - April 10, 2008)

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I rise this morning to talk about the Ensign-Cantwell amendment we are going to be voting on shortly.

I thank the many cosponsors of the amendment, which I believe are somewhere in the 20 range, too many to read. With the actual Cantwell-Ensign bill that was introduced last Thursday, I think we have over 40 cosponsors. It is safe to say there has been much enthusiasm about this idea of moving forward on extending expiring green energy tax credits and doing so in a way that we can get the requisite votes we need for the measure to become law and be signed by the President.

I also want thank Senators BAUCUS and GRASSLEY for their continued focus on green energy tax credits, they understand that we need to move forward on leveling the playing field between the fossil fuel industry and making investments in green energy technology. I know the Finance Committee has had many conversations about this issue, and I am sure they will continue to make it a top priority.

I particularly want to thank my colleague Senator Ensign of Nevada, with whom I have had an opportunity to work on several issues in the past such as protecting electricity consumers, ratepayers, from the Enron debacle, to now working with him on these green energy tax credits. I applaud him for standing up and taking the lead and understanding how renewable energy will play a key role in our Nation's economy moving forward, certainly the Nevada economy, and the need to provide a level playing field to keep this year's investment cycle going. Senator Ensign understands that, and I appreciate his leadership in getting the other side of the aisle to participate in the sponsorship of this amendment.

I also want to thank Senator Reid who, being from Nevada, understands how important the solar energy and the green energy tax credits are for his State's economy, but he also understands the national economy depends on us moving off of fossil fuels. I appreciate his steadfast support in getting this legislation passed. We are fortunate to have Senator Reid on our side in the upcoming negotiations with the House, we need to make sure this legislation is actually passed by the House and signed into law.

We are at this point because we believe the investments in green energy tax credits, production tax credits for wind and other renewables, investment tax credits for solar, fuel cells, and for other promising energy sources, and the efficiency tax credits that are in this legislation are stimulative. They are stimulative. We voted in this body to put them as part of a stimulus package, and the Senate Finance Committee said we think in addition to checks going to households, some activity that would keep investment and create jobs in 2008 should be a priority.

Mr. President, this is a stimulative measure that would keep about 100,000 jobs and keep and protect about $20 billion of investments this year. That is why it is part of this underlying bill, and we hope the House will look at this issue as stimulative activity, along with the accompanying housing measure.

The reason why this is so urgent is because the end of the first quarter is here. Companies that are making these investment decisions are going to start issuing their first quarter reports, giving guidance as to the rest of the year and their investments. If we do not make it clear as a Congress that we believe in these tax credits, they are going to start canceling projects.

I know I have been to the floor and said this previously, but now have the last month's numbers as it relates to actual job loss, the 80,000 jobs that have been lost in our economy, and if you looked deeply, you would probably find some of those jobs are these energy-related jobs, where we have not given predictability to investors and, consequently, they are starting to cancel projects.

This Senator does not want to see the next quarter's numbers and see the greater job losses because Congress would not give predictability in the tax code. This is a time when our economy needs investment. It needs investment in those activities that are going to help consumers in the long run lower their energy costs, but, frankly, this is an investment we can make right now that will help our economy create much needed new jobs and investment.

What is our goal? I know many of my colleagues would say: Let's go back to the drawing board and see if we can find a pay-for way of doing this. I am sure this discussion is going to come up in the House of Representatives as well. But I remind my colleagues, we have tried that approach three times. We have tried that approach, and we have failed. The White House has issued veto threats every time we tried to pay for these measures. To now say we are going to revert back to that I think is going to leave in jeopardy the investment cycle for 2008 of that 100,000 jobs and $20 billion of investment.

A more positive way to proceed is to get this particular legislation passed and signed into law so we do not lose the investment in the jobs, we do not see a 77-percent plunge in the investment in wind like we did last time the PTC was allowed to expire. Or see a drop off in solar or renewables or efficiency and the other areas that are just starting to take off. Instead we should get this off the table, signed into law, and we have plenty of time later this year to talk about how we are going to make green energy tax credits a priority in our Nation's tax code so this industry can take off and continue to provide the certainty and predictability we need.

What I am saying is, we should not pin a gold medal on our chest for work we should have done in 2007 to give the market predictability on green energy tax credits. This work is actually late to the game. Let's finish it and be proud we did so in a bipartisan fashion to break the logjam, but now let's get on to the rest of the year in coming up with a funding source for what are predictable tax credits beyond the 2008 and 2009 time period that will really stimulate the millions of green-collar jobs America can have.

The urgency of this issue should not be underestimated. The opportunity for America to become a leader in green energy technology is at our doorstep today. But if the United States does not realize it needs to put its foot on the accelerator, then we are not doing our job in communicating the facts. The Europeans, the Chinese, and the rest of the world are going to move ahead in the manufacturing of green energy technology. The United States can be a leader in that new green-collar industry or it simply can be a marketplace for other countries' technology solutions.

This Senator wants the United States to be a green energy technology leader. I want us to be an exporter of the green energy technologies developed and manufactured here at home, creating jobs in the United States and leveraging the know-how we have in green energy technologies to provide much needed solutions around the globe.

To do that, the United States has to give predictability in our tax code. It has to recognize we are willing to turn our ship off the fossil fuel direction and on to green energy solutions that will help our economy, help our environment, and help shift the change we need in our foreign policy.

I hope my colleagues will take this vote on the Ensign amendment this morning with a lot of foresight into the debate that is going to continue to happen and to support the Ensign-Cantwell amendment, to sign onto the underlying bill to say it is time for us to move forward on this solution and to urge our House colleagues to work diligently to quickly put this legislation on the President's desk so we can get about the other vital energy tasks we must address.

There is much work to do, but let's vote today with enthusiasm that the United States is going to be more aggressive in turning to green energy solutions and to make the United States a leader in green energy technology.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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