Salud Ortiz Carbajal: “Before I proceed, I wanted to take a quick few seconds to thank and recognize Chairman Thornberry and Ranking Member…”

“Before I proceed, I wanted to take a quick few seconds to thank and recognize Chairman Thornberry and Ranking Member Smith as a freshman member of the 115th Congress. It has been refreshing to see such bipartisan tone in leadership, so I just wanted to recognize them for those qualities and skills. With the Department of Defense struggling to rein in spending while keeping our military strong and our country protected, it is amendments like Mr. Conaway's that are unnecessarily impeding cost competition and reductions that come with public-private partnerships. This amendment limits competition between alternative fuel sources and may even force DOD to pay more by explicitly prohibiting purchases of cheaper fuel. That is not only inefficient, it is irresponsible. The Department of Defense is the single largest energy consumer in the world. We should be incentivizing the diversification of liquid fuels as an option to bring down costs and reduce regulatory burden. Not only does this amendment risk increased costs for DOD procurement, but it also stunts potential economic growth in the rapidly expanding biofuel field, a billion-dollar industry worldwide. Yet another troubling result of this amendment, if passed, is its potential to impede military operations where an alternative fuel may be the only option available.…”