Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, this amendment would prohibit funding for the Wind Powering America initiative under the Department of Energy. Hot air jokes aside here, nobody can say that the Federal Government has not been good to the wind industry. Turbines made for popular earmarks in Congresses past, and wind technology research and development receives tens of millions of Federal dollars annually. Developers continue to reap billions of dollars from a two-decade-old production tax credit that will hopefully be allowed to expire this year. But as much as I disagree with my colleagues who would have us continue to prop up an industry that even Secretary Chu of the Energy Department describes as mature, that's not what this amendment is about. This amendment is about putting an end to Wind Powering America, an initiative that just picks winners and losers and operates in the rarified air of a Federal program that is actively advocating on behalf of a particular industry. Had you happened across an Associated Press article announcing WPA's creation 13 years ago, you would have mistaken it for a trade organization. The Energy Department described WPA as an initiative aimed at building national awareness of wind's benefits, increasing customer demand, overcoming institutional biases, and even advocating on behalf of the wind production tax credit.…”