Political Quotes

“I know my colleague from Georgia will be speaking on this shortly. I appreciate him and Representative Schiff working on this amendment, and I will be very brief to voice my support for Congressman Woodall and Congressman Schiff in their efforts to restore some of the funds in ARPA-E. As we discussed, the underlying bill cuts ARPA-E by 81 percent. We live in times of fiscal austerity. We have the sequestration. We know it's time for cuts. Eighty-one percent is clearly singling it out. What this amendment does is restores $20 million in funding to ARPA- E. Even $20 million goes a long way when we're talking about ARPA-E. We're talking about early-stage investments. It could be $500,000, $1 million, $2 million--very high leverage, very high return. And $70 million is not enough to fund the program. But, yes, it will make great strides even at this funding level, because investment in early-stage companies is all about risk-taking. That's why the government has a critical role in promoting innovation and making sure that we do the basic research to even get it ready for tech transfer, to get it ready for venture capital, to get it ready for the private sector to commercialize it. In order for ARPA-E to be successful, investors need to see that the government is willing to invest in risky, but high- reward, projects that can truly alter the course of energy independence for our country. So I strongly salute Representatives Woodall and Schiff for bringing forward this amendment.…”