Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014

Floor Speech

Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Chair, I rise in strong opposition to this Energy and Water Appropriations bill, which is a poster child for why this House needs to get serious about replacing the sequester with a balanced, long-term budget agreement that keeps faith with our values and funds critical to national priorities.

According to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance for the Pew Charitable Trusts, China overtook the United States in the 21st century's clean energy race last year, attracting $65.1 billion in clean energy investment compared to just $35.6 billion in the U.S. Rather than responding aggressively to this challenge, today's legislation effectively proposes to throw in the towel and slashes clean energy funding by 60 percent. As a result, America's families and businesses will be forced to pay more than they otherwise would on their utility bills as fewer homes are weatherized, deployment of cost-effective clean energy technologies is delayed and smart grid modernization is postponed.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency--Energy, or ARPA-E, faces an even more devastating 81 percent cut. This early stage, high-impact program created by the bipartisan America Competes Act has already leveraged more than $450 million in private sector investment from $70 million in funding to game-changing opportunities in areas like energy storage, advanced biofuels and smart grid technology. ARPA-E--and the transformational breakthroughs it is driving--would be all but shut down under this legislation.

From basic research at DoE's Office of Science to environmental cleanup at our nation's nuclear defense sites to tackling the current $60 billion backlog at the Army Corps of Engineers, this legislation shrinks from America's challenges and shortchanges America's future.

We can and should do better.

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