Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012

Floor Speech

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Ms. KAPTUR. Members and Madam Chairman, I am having help from the pager placing this chart up here. It shows how much petroleum America imports--the red line--and overall how much petroleum we use. Energy-wise, America is a totally dependent Nation.

I offer this amendment to help restore the energy security, economic security, and environmental security of our Nation. Nothing could be more vital.

My amendment takes a small step by shifting a very small amount of funds, $10 million, from the administrative costs within the Department of Energy to help restore funds to solar energy research and development within the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program.

Sadly, the base bill jeopardizes America's new energy future. It cuts research in solar energy by more than one-third from last year, and over 60 percent from the President's request, providing $166 million for 2012, but that's $97 million below fiscal year 2011 and $291 million below the President's request.

The $10 million in reprogramming represents less than 5 percent of the $220 million administrative budget of the Department of Energy. If the Department of Energy made their buildings more energy efficient, we could shift the funds into research on new technologies.

For months I have been hearing from constituents outraged about the high price of gas and energy in our country. And once again the recent job statistics from the Department of Labor tell us very clearly that every time you have an oil price hike, you have rising unemployment. You can go back 40 years. Every time it goes over $4 a gallon, we get a spike in unemployment. It's not rocket science.

As it stands, this bill reinforces our dependence on foreign oil. By contrast, my amendment focuses on a new energy future for America by shifting a modest amount of funds for solar energy to provide American consumers with the new energy choices that they want.

Our priorities in this bill must be aligned with the needs of our Nation for tomorrow, not yesterday. America shouldn't be held hostage by future energy price spikes. We must promote sustainable environmental stewardship while creating jobs right here in our country.

We need to address budgetary realities, and this bill does it. And there are accounts we have cut. But investments in new energy sources to displace imported oil are not the place to cut, not when America is this dependent. Research investments in solar technology have helped create numerous new companies, creating thousands of high quality jobs already with domestically produced energy. We are at the dawn of a new energy age, and we can't lose edge now. Solar companies already employ over 90,000 American workers and are expected to grow in both sales and jobs. But that depends on new research. And many of the fledgling companies can't afford to do that.

Last week, Isofoton, a Spanish solar panel manufacturer, announced plans to open a new plant in Napoleon, Ohio, that will create more than 300 jobs. Global firms know that particularly northern Ohio has made renewable energy a priority, and the investment is following. Congress simply must focus on a new energy future for our Nation and not let inertia and the habits of the past thwart progress.

Overall, the U.S. economy is anticipated to increase jobs by 2 percent next year. But guess what? In the solar industry, the number of new jobs is expected to increase 26 percent, according to Cornell University's 2010 solar job census. Those are the kind of jobs that America wants. And a recent Ernst and Young report predicts the cost of solar to decrease by as much as half, creating a strong solar option for American consumers and providing solar companies with the opportunity to expand.

Investors know where to put their dollars, and our Nation knows--or we should know--that this is an emerging industry, and cutting edge research is fundamental to progress. The race to be the energy provider of the future is this generation's space race. And basic research is critical. It is fundamental. It is the fundamental ingredient to build that new future for our people. America has never shirked a major challenge. And we have a real finish line to go across as competitors are fierce, from China, from Germany, from Japan.

New technology will provide a new power future for us, and we must position ourselves not to be second, not to be third, but to be the global leader and to create those good jobs here at home. So my amendment sets a course to keep the keel more steady as we advance energy security, economic security, and the environmental security of our Nation while promoting jobs here at home through new energy independence and innovation.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the Kaptur amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Chair, I made a statement a little bit earlier regarding this amendment which aims to help restore the energy security, economic security, and environmental security of our Nation by focusing on the future. It essentially shifts a very modest amount of funds, $10 million, from the administrative costs within the Department of Energy to help restore funds to solar energy research and development within the energy efficiency and renewable energy program.

Sadly, the bill overall moves backward in terms of helping America invent its new energy future because it cuts research in solar development by more than one-third from last year and over 60 percent from the President's request. The base bill provides $166 million for solar research, which is a $97 million reduction below this year's level and a $291 million reduction below the President's request.

What sense does that make when we're importing petroleum at this level, we continue to use more and more, and prices are going up? It is pretty clear America needs new answers. So my effort is to merely reprogram about 5 percent of the funds in the administrative budget of the Department of Energy and shift those to the energy efficiency and renewable energy program itself.

I believe that the Department of Energy, which took years to even get their solar array up at the national headquarters here, could save the money that we need to put into research if they'd merely be more energy efficient about their own buildings. And that comes out of their administrative funds. So this merely is a 5 percent shift. It's $10 million from the administrative budget, and put it into hard research that really helps to create jobs. We know that America has to invent her future. We can't depend on the energy sources of the past alone. Technology is critical to that.

And in the solar field, the competition globally for patents and for the cutting edge research that is part of this sector is just growing so fast globally, America simply can't slip backward. We just have to keep up our edge. It's very difficult with China and with Germany having the kind of incentives they do in their own country. For example, China even offers companies 15-year tax holidays, and they have so many more engineers and scientists than we do working on this. So I think cutting solar research is not a good option for this country. This bill makes many other cuts. Surely, we know that research investments in solar technology have helped create numerous companies already and thousands and thousands of new jobs.

In fact, solar companies employ over 90,000 American workers now, and they expect both growth in sales and jobs, but that depends fundamentally on cutting-edge breakthroughs in technology. And that is a fight that is occuring every day, not just in this country, but in research platforms around the world.

I mentioned earlier that Isofoton, a Spanish solar manufacturer in my region, had announced 300 new jobs this past week. So global firms are coming to places like northern Ohio where they know that the energy systems of the future are being built. But the number of jobs being created in this sector far exceed what is being created in just the general job creation sector in our country.

Cornell University's 2010 solar job census shows that in solar energy, the number of new jobs is increasing by 26 percent; and those are good jobs building a new future for our country and for our people. We know that many of these entrepreneurial companies are too small to do their own in-house research, they still need Federal research and basic research to help us use new materials and to help us develop the new transmission technologies to make them truly competitive, to compete against the Chinas and the Germanys of the world that are taking market share as I stand here even today.

So the race is a serious one in the solar energy field. Basic research is the critical ingredient. My amendment essentially moves 5 percent of the funds out of the administrative accounts into the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy accounts at the Department. I would ask for my colleagues' support on that. Hopefully, we can help take a small step for humankind, for solar energy development in our country.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Chair, I would offer this amendment as a new amendment that would perform essentially the same function. That is, it satisfies any concerns the gentleman might have about where we are moving funds from in the Dept. of Energy Administrative Programs and moving them to in the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program.

I offer this revised amendment that I hope would satisfy the gentleman's concern on his point of order. This is a new amendment. It essentially moves dollars from the administrative accounts at the Department of Energy to the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy block grant.

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Ms. KAPTUR. I thank the gentleman very much. I know that the choices are difficult. I guess I would put my marbles on getting the Department to be more efficient in its administrative operations on its nuclear side and on its civil side, and put more of those dollars into research and development for the future of new energy systems, including solar.

I regret the gentleman's objection, but I have the highest respect for him. Maybe we can work this out down the road.

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