Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2013 -- Motion to Proceed -- Continued

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am on the floor today to discuss the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act--which is why we call it Shaheen-Portman; it is a faster way to refer to it.

It is a bill I coauthored with Senator Rob Portman from Ohio, and it represents more than 3 years of meetings, negotiations, compromise, and broad stakeholder outreach in an effort to craft the most effective piece of energy legislation with the greatest chance of passing both Chambers of Congress and of being signed into law. My partner in this effort, Senator Portman, was here on the floor last night talking about why this is a bipartisan bill that can pass not only this Chamber but the House and be signed into law.

It is a bipartisan effort that reflects an affordable approach to boost the use of energy efficiency technologies in our economy. Efficiency is the cheapest, fastest way to reduce our energy use. Energy-saving techniques and technologies lower costs; they free up capital that allows businesses to expand and our economy to grow.

In addition to being an energy bill, it is a jobs bill. We can start improving our efficiency now by installing ready, proven technologies such as modern heating systems, computer-controlled thermostats, low-energy lighting. Efficiency is no longer about putting on a sweater and turning down the thermostat. It is about making use of these technologies that are available today.

There are substantial opportunities which exist across all sectors of our economy that would allow us to conserve energy, to create good-paying private sector jobs, and to reduce pollution.

Our bill reduces the barriers to efficiency in the major energy-consuming sectors of our economy. It does that through buildings, which constitute about 40 percent of our use; through industrial efficiency, where we assist the manufacturing sector which consumes more energy than any other sector of the U.S. economy--we help them implement energy-efficient production technologies; and through the Federal Government, which as I think all of us know, is the single largest user of energy in the country.

The legislation encourages the Federal Government to adopt more efficient building standards, smart-metering technology, to look at our data centers and see how we can reduce the costs there.

Again, this bill will help create private sector jobs. It will save businesses and consumers money. It will reduce pollution and it will make our country more energy efficient.

A recent study by experts of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy found that by 2030 Shaheen-Portman, if it passes, has the potential to create 192,000 domestic jobs, to save consumers and businesses over $16 billion a year, and to reduce carbon pollution by the equivalent of taking 22 million cars off the road. The bill does this without any mandates, without raising the deficit. All authorizations are offset and it even produces a $12 million deficit reduction, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

I have had the opportunity over the last 3 1/2 years as we have been working
on this bill to visit businesses across New Hampshire that are making use of energy-efficient technology, and what I have heard from those businesses is they have adopted these energy efficiencies because it allows them to save money, it allows them to be competitive, it allows them to add jobs in their sectors. I think that is why this legislation enjoys such strong support from industry, from trade associations, and from labor groups as well as efficiency and environmental advocates.

As the Presiding Officer knows, it is not often that we have groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Wildlife Federation supporting the same piece of legislation. I have a number of letters that have been sent by many of these organizations that illustrate the ever-growing support for the bill. The signatures on these letters go on and on, and they are signed by everyone from the Edison Electric Institute, the American Gas Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Earth Day Network, and the National Association of State Energy Offices.

At this time, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have these letters printed in the Record.

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I think this nontraditional alliance clearly illustrates the sizable and diverse demand for this energy efficiency jobs bill and, simply put, the time is now for the Senate to take up and pass this bipartisan, commonsense proposal to grow our economy and create good-paying jobs for decades. We cannot let our extraneous debates about amendments or nonamendments, what amendments to include, which amendments not to include, to get in the way of getting this legislation done, because this creates jobs, it saves consumers money, and it saves on pollution.

One of the great things about the bill, which I hope we are going to take up in a few minutes, is it includes 10 additional bipartisan amendments. Since our bill was taken up and pulled back from the floor in September, Senator Portman and I have worked closely with Senators from both sides of the aisle to add 10 new bipartisan provisions that expand current sections of our bill.

The new bill has a section that puts in place commonsense and consensus-reached regulatory relief provisions that maintain the underlying principle of advancing energy efficiency in the private sector. As a result of these provisions, the legislation has more energy savings, more job creation, and more carbon dioxide reductions than the previous version of the bill.

I want to briefly talk a little bit about some of the bipartisan amendments, because I think they point out the improvements in the legislation.

Tenant Star builds on the success of EPA's long-running voluntary ENERGY STAR Program for commercial buildings and it creates a similar tenant-oriented certification for leased spaces. Again, it is voluntary. Commercial building tenants who design, construct, and operate their leased spaces in ways that maximize energy efficiency would receive the same kind of public recognition through Tenant Star that ENERGY STAR has produced for so many buildings and businesses.

This bill also includes a provision for energy-efficient schools. Senator Susan Collins and Senator Mark Udall have an amendment included that would help schools' energy efficiency and streamline the government's programs to make them run more productively. This would help schools across the country that finance energy efficiency projects to make their buildings operate in a more sustainable fashion.

The legislation also includes Senator Bennet's and Senator Isakson's amendment, called the SAVE Act, which would improve the accuracy of mortgage underwriting by including energy efficiency as a factor in determining the value and affordability of homes. It includes a proposal by Senators Hoeven and Pryor to create a regulatory exemption for thermal storage water heaters so rural cooperatives and others could continue to use certain large water heaters for their successful demand-response programs.

In addition to what is in this legislation, we have seen in the last several months the House pass energy efficiency legislation, including a number of the provisions that are in the bill we will be taking up today. In fact, the House recently passed an energy efficiency package by an overwhelming 375-36 margin. Those provisions passed by the House are in the version we are introducing of Shaheen-Portman, and it shows how much support for energy efficiency there is throughout the Congress.

We have a real opportunity to pass this legislation. This is a bipartisan, affordable, widely supported bill and, most importantly, an effective first step to address our Nation's very real energy needs.

I thank Senator Portman for his partnership in bringing the bill to the floor. I thank the majority and minority leaders as well as the new energy Chair, Senator Landrieu, and Ranking Member Murkowski for their support, and thank former Energy and Natural Resources chairman, Senator Ron Wyden, for his support.

I also thank the legislation's additional cosponsors: Senators Ayotte, Bennet, Collins, the Presiding Officer, Senator Coons, as well as Senators Franken, Hoeven, Isakson, Warner, and Wicker. I think the list of bipartisan cosponsors indicates the breadth of support for this legislation, that it shows the ideological breadth of support for it.

I look forward to working with Senate leadership and with all of my colleagues in the Senate, because we can pass this legislation, we can create these jobs, we can save consumers money, and we can reduce pollution.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

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