Nancy Pelosi: “Mr. Chairman, this is not just a California problem. I repeat, it is not just a California problem. We had the Deputy…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is not just a California problem. I repeat, it is not just a California problem. We had the Deputy Secretary of Energy before the Committee on the Budget today, and he said in answer to a direct question, this is not only California, it affects the State of Washington. Mr. Chairman, we are facing 150 percent increases under BPA. We face the loss of 102,000 jobs in Washington State. Electricity that cost $23 a megawatt last year is between $200 and $300 this year. Some of you are feeling fat and sassy in the Midwest or East and saying it is just the Californians arguing about a big problem. The rest of the Nation is also going to get it because there is a grid that connects the whole energy system in the United States. What is happening to us in Washington State, we are only a thousand miles from California, if my colleagues are within a thousand miles, my colleagues ought to be voting for this amendment.”