Gary Hart: “I thank the chairman and my colleagues on the committee for moving forward such an excellent package as part of the…”

“I thank the chairman and my colleagues on the committee for moving forward such an excellent package as part of the energy bill. I think many of us have spent the last several years hoping that we would get an energy bill passed. There are a number of reasons why; in my district, clearly one of the most important is simply the cost of energy, whether it is home heat, whether it is the cost to manufacturers which is costing us jobs. We need to move forward with this energy bill. My district is home to a number of manufacturers. I have met with many of them since the beginning of the year when we were hoping that we would get the energy bill moving. What they have asked for us is to help them with their higher overhead, ultimately helping them with their competitiveness, helping jobs to remain in our district. Obviously, these companies' employees are much more susceptible to layoffs without the energy bill. I am also hearing from home owners, many of the elderly in my district with older homes, who need some help, some incentives to improve their homes, some tax assistance so they will have more energy-efficient homes, to those who are building new homes, more incentives. The bill also addresses our aging electric transmission system. Many of our transmission system lines were built 30 to 50 years ago, and it is estimated by 2015 electricity consumption will increase by 28 percent.…”