Political Quotes

“Let me begin by saying I'm pleased that this bill includes several measures I have championed, including bills I've offered relating to energy efficiency and electric vehicles. However, I have to oppose this legislation because H.R. 8 fails to address climate change. In fact, the bill includes several controversial provisions that shift our nation's energy policy into reverse. I'm very grateful to Chairman Upton and Subcommittee Chairman Whitfield for including my legislation, the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act, in the base text of H.R. 8. This bipartisan, noncontroversial bill which I introduced with Rep. Kinzinger, received 375 votes on the House floor last year. This measure would save taxpayers millions of dollars and would make the federal government a leader in reducing energy use at data centers which can be highly inefficient. I also appreciate that two amendments I offered at the Energy and Commerce Committee markup of this bill were agreed to by voice vote and are included in the Manager's Amendment. The first would allow federal agencies to offer electric vehicle charging stations to guests and employees, a practice that is not currently allowed. The second would add transparency requirements to ensure that only critical infrastructure information is protected from FOIA requests, and that this designation is periodically reviewed to ensure this authority is not abused.…”