National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am really pleased to be here on the floor today with, as the Senator from Ohio put it so well, my partner Senator Portman in developing this energy efficiency legislation--the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, also known as Shaheen-Portman. It is a long name, but as the Senator from Ohio pointed out, it really goes a long way to address some of the energy challenges we face in this country. It is a win-win-win.

We heard a discussion earlier today about the importance of renewable energy as a way to create jobs. This is one of the most important things about our legislation. It does promote job creation. As the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy said, 136,000 new jobs will be created by 2025 if we pass this legislation. By 2030, it would net an annual savings of almost $14 billion--$13.7 billion for consumers--and it would lower CO2 emissions and other air pollutants by the equivalent of taking 22 million cars off the road.

So as Senator Portman said so well, this is a win for job creation, it is a win for the environment, it is a win for national security, and it is a win for saving costs.

Senator Portman talked about the importance of continuing bipartisan efforts as we saw this week with passing a budget. As did Senator Portman, I supported that budget as well, despite some of the misgivings I had about it, but I think it was important to work together to move forward on addressing the issues we face in this country. That is exactly what the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act would do. It is a bill that will create jobs, lower pollution, and save taxpayer money.

We had a great opportunity to pass this legislation back in September. Unfortunately, we saw some people come to the floor and object because of nonrelevant amendments. But we have an opportunity to come back to it in the new year to try to pass it again. I am hoping we can do that.

One reason we are on the floor today is to talk about that second opportunity we are going to have. Senator Portman and I have been working on some of the bipartisan amendments offered for the bill, and we are hopeful some of our colleagues who support those bipartisan amendments, who have authored them, will come on board with this legislation and help us get this passed in the new year.

As Senator Portman said, to date, this legislation has more than 260 endorsements from groups that include business, the environment, think tanks, and trade associations. Supporters include everybody from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. I think any time we can get the Sierra Club and the American Chemistry Council supporting a piece of legislation, we know we have a good bill that can attract a lot of support. That is where we are in this legislation.

As we know, passage of the bill was delayed by a small group of Senators back in September. But I think there still remains a real interest in debating energy efficiency policy on the floor of the Senate. We have also heard from the House that both Representatives Fred Upton, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Ed Whitfield, chair of the relevant subcommittee with jurisdiction over energy efficiency, have expressed interest in Shaheen-Portman and have said they will move energy efficiency legislation if the Senate passes a bill.

Since the bill was taken off the floor, Senator Portman and I have continued to work with Chairman Wyden. He was here a few minutes ago and plans to come back, hopefully, to speak to the legislation. We have been working with Ranking Member Murkowski to incorporate some of those relevant bipartisan amendments that have been cleared by the committee, which I talked about a few minutes ago. If we can do that--if we can include those amendments--it would make the legislation even better, and it would secure additional support necessary to ensure passage. It would allow us, I hope, assuming the leadership agrees, to bring this bill back to the floor.

I am confident we can pass this legislation if we can get it back to the floor. It has bipartisan, bicameral support. It is exactly the kind of smart, affordable energy and jobs bill Congress needs to pass and the President needs to sign in order to spur private sector growth, in order to save on costs of energy, and in order to address some of the environmental issues we are facing.

So I thank Senator Portman, as well as Chairman Wyden and Ranking Member Murkowski, for all of their help in working with us to promote this legislation and advance the bill. I really look forward to working with those 260 groups, which also include the Alliance to Save Energy--and it is important to recognize them for their support--to be able to bring this bill back, to get it through, and for the first time since 2007 to get some energy policy done in the Senate.

So I thank the Chair. Thanks to my colleague, Senator Portman, we will be back after January.

I yield the floor.

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