Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2013

Floor Speech

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, first, I wish to congratulate the bill's sponsors, Senators Shaheen and Portman, for crafting the underlying bipartisan, commonsense energy efficiency bill.

I am proud to be a cosponsor of their legislation, and I am pleased to see that the bill is being considered and look forward to the debate on energy efficiency.

I would hope that as we consider amendments to this bill, we could consider amendments that relate to the issue of energy so we can make real progress and that we don't end up--as happened before the recess when I was managing a bill on the transportation and housing appropriations for the minority side--distracted on two issues that had nothing to do with the underlying bill, important though it was.

I am very pleased to join my colleague, the distinguished Senator from Colorado Mr. Udall in sponsoring an amendment to help streamline the available Federal Energy Efficiency Financing Program to help improve the health and lower energy costs of our Nation's schools.

There are a number of Federal initiatives already available to schools to help them become more efficient. However, in many cases schools are not taking full advantage of these programs. I think this is particularly a problem in rural States such as Alaska or Maine, where the schools don't have the luxury of having grant writers who can spend all day searching for Federal funding that might allow them to upgrade their energy efficiency or reduce emissions from their energy systems.

Large urban schools may have the ability to hire those full-time grant writers, but I know in my State of Maine it is very difficult for schools to even become aware of these programs. One of the purposes of the amendment that Senator Udall and I are offering is to help schools, regardless of their size, take advantage of existing programs.

I wish to stress that we are not creating a whole lot of new programs. All we are doing is providing a streamlined coordinating structure for schools to help them better navigate available Federal programs and financing options. I also wish to emphasize--particularly to my Republican colleagues--that our amendment still leaves all the decisions to the States, local school boards, and local officials about how best to meet the energy needs of their schools.

So what does our amendment do? Specifically, the amendment would establish the Department of Energy as the lead agency in coordinating a cross-developmental effort to help initiate, develop, and finance energy efficiency, renewable energy, and retrofitting projects for our schools. It would also require a review of existing Federal programs and financing mechanisms, the formation of a streamlined process of communication and outreach to the States, local education agencies, and schools of these existing programs to make them more aware of their existence, and the development of a mechanism for Governors, State energy programs, and local educational and energy officials to form a peer-to-peer network to support the initiation of these projects.

Finally, the amendment would require the Department of Energy to provide technical assistance to help schools navigate the financing and development of these projects. Assisting our Nation's schools in navigating and tapping into existing Federal programs that will help them lower their energy usage and save the taxpayers' money at a time of very tight and constrained educational budgets simply makes good common sense.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the Udall-Collins amendment numbered 1845. I thank not only the sponsors of the bill but the leaders of the energy committee, Senator Wyden and Senator Murkowski, for their help and assistance to us.

I hope we can start the debate on this bill on a positive note by adopting a bipartisan amendment that is going to help our schools save money, reduce energy costs, and also lower emissions. That is the way to start the debate on this bill.

I thank the Presiding Officer and yield the floor.

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