Political Quotes

“I rise to join Senators Cardin and Schatz in introducing the Energy Efficiency Tax Incentives Act. This bill has been drafted cooperatively, and my colleagues have been especially accommodating of changes requested by California's experts. I thank them for their hard work on this bill. This legislation revises and extends energy efficiency tax incentives for homes, commercial buildings, and industrial facilities. The bill continues the effort for energy efficiency improvements that I began with Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire in 2001. I was proud to pass that legislation with Senator Snowe in 2005. The Energy Efficiency Tax Incentives Act builds on that law by reforming tax code incentives to implement a performance-based regime in which incentives grow larger as energy efficiency increases. The policy improvements in this bill were recommended by energy efficiency experts. This bill establishes energy and water efficiency incentives for commercial buildings and industrial facilities, about which Senator Cardin and Senator Schatz have focused their remarks. I would like to focus on a different provision in the bill: tax credits for home renovations that will increase energy efficiency of homes by at least 20 percent. The tax credit would increase in size with every 5 percent of additional energy efficiency improvement achieved. Homeowners who improve the efficiency of their home by more than 50 percent will qualify for a maximum credit of $5,000.…”