Lisa Murkowski: “Making matters worse, it provides an additional $3.1 billion to State energy programs but imposes conditions on…”

“Making matters worse, it provides an additional $3.1 billion to State energy programs but imposes conditions on receiving funds that are currently met by only a handful of States. Another example I wish to leave you with is the smart grid. We agree this is very important. There is $4.5 billion for the smart grid. This was authorized at $100 million in the 2007 Energy bill. It has received zero funding to date. Is it possible to expect we can ramp up to $4.5 billion in 2 years in a rational way? We don't even have the standards in place for the interoperability framework. I don't think the American taxpayer is concerned so much about how much we spend, so long as we do it responsibly and with accountability.”