Political Quotes

“I'm pleased to rise today in support of my legislation, the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act. I thank Chairman Upton, Ranking Member Pallone, and my legislative partner Congressman Adam Kinzinger for their strong support of this bill. This bill is all about bringing our federal government's IT and data centers into the 21st century. The federal government is the nation's largest landowner, employer, and energy user and should lead by example in this field. By requiring federal agencies to utilize the best technologies and energy management strategies, this legislation will reduce the federal government's energy use, save taxpayer dollars, and set the standard for the private sector. Today, the world generates more data in twelve hours than was generated in all of human history prior to 2003. This data must be stored and processed at data centers which are the backbone of the 21st century economy but can be highly energy inefficient. While we now routinely hear about data centers, this was not the case when I began examining this issue over a decade ago. In those days I had to explain to my colleagues what a data center was. Today, most people understand that data centers are a critical part of our national infrastructure and are found in nearly every sector of our economy. According to the GSA, the federal government alone has more than 2,000 data centers which store everything from Social Security and tax records to e-books at the Library of Congress.…”