These extreme weather events threaten our electricity infrastructure and make it even more important that we invest in upgrading and protecting the grid.

But a huge part of our energy structure is the electric grid, the system we use to transmit electricity to our homes and businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I am having kind of a deja vu moment and a holy cow moment both at the same time. It is deja vu because we already passed a Homeland Security funding bill. So that bill has shifted to the Senate. Somebody apparently didn't get…

Thank you again for coming out to the WIPP facility last August. That meant an enormous amount to the community and especially to the workers.

I happen to think that the scientific community is right in telling us that climate change is real.

Do you want to support getting the Government out of Price Anderson in the nuclear industry?

It would seem to me that we should be investing a heck of a lot more because this is going to pay for itself.

Are we investing enough, frankly, in weatherization in this country?

The truth is if God forbid... if there were ever a disaster, Fukushima, in this country, the taxpayers would have to pick up, depending on the nature of the disaster, a substantial part of that cost.

I have always believed in is making sure that people who don't have a lot of money are able to receive loans or grants.

I agree. Now in terms of energy efficiency and weatherization I represent the state which has a whole lot of older homes and older buildings.

Hey, being in the minority is not so bad, and being in the majority is not such a bowl of cherries, is it, Lamar?

I would just ask the rhetorical question--and I thank my colleague--why did they attach these provisions, inimicable to the President, inimicable to us, to the Department of Homeland Security bill, which has nothing to do with it? It was…

I thank my colleague from Texas for his good question. I agree with parts of what he said. First, I agree that we disagree on the President's Executive order. Second, I agree we ought not debate it in a hostage-taking situation. Our…

I thank my friend for the question. It is nice to see him standing on the Democratic side. I hope he tries it again. If he likes it, he might do it more often. I would say this: We all know what Speaker Boehner did. The hard right in the…

I will yield for a question when I finish my remarks, just as he was nice enough to yield to me a few days ago. First, without a bipartisan full-year bill, the Secret Service cannot move forward with the critical reforms recommended by an…

I look forward to working with you. I am not surprised that the Committee is off to a fine, efficient start, even more efficient than under previous management.

Mr. President, we are running out of time until the Department of Homeland Security shuts down, and the majority doesn't seem to have any real plan to avoid it. There are 17 days left--with a week of recess in between--until tens of…