Political Quotes

“I now wish to turn to the wind production tax credit. The Presiding Officer has been in the chair listening on a number of occasions and she has been gracious in her interest and support of what we are trying to do. This is my 26th speech urging all of us to extend the wind production tax credit. It is known simply as the PTC in the abbreviated form. It is going to expire in 4 weeks--less than 4 weeks, actually--if we don't extend it. I am so worried about what is going to happen to this important industry. The PTC has created good-paying middle-class jobs in the wind energy industry not only in my own State--I have a bias about my own State-- but all across the Nation. Almost every State has a stake in the wind energy industry. When we think about what the PTC has done, we realize it has also stimulated the growth of our clean energy economy as well as promoted clean energy security. The Presiding Officer serves on the Armed Services Committee so she knows the importance of energy to national security. We have 75,000 jobs in the wind industry right now in Colorado. We are on track to produce 20 percent of our electricity through the wind, by harvesting the wind, by 2030. But if we let the PTC expire, estimates suggest we will lose half of those jobs. We would be down to 37,000 jobs. We also undermine our Nation's pursuit of true energy security.…”