Political Quotes

“I would like to begin by thanking my colleagues, Mr. Ross of Florida and Mr. Delaney of Maryland, for cosponsoring this amendment. I would like to briefly outline the amendment by saying that this is an amendment that is a bipartisan proposal that has been included in the Senate T-HUD appropriations and the bipartisan Shaheen-Portman energy bill. It was also included in the President's budget, and more than 24 separate groups support this amendment. It presents no risk to the Federal Government, is budget neutral, and actually has the potential to reduce utility costs for HUD up to $7 billion annually. In brief, HUD-assisted properties are generally older stock, with inefficient energy and water usage. There are lot of barriers to improving that situation and, therefore, realizing those savings. Under the pilot program proposed by this amendment, an intermediary will contract with HUD or with property owners to produce energy and water savings in exchange for a share of those ongoing savings. Relying on this contract, the intermediary will raise the capital to pay for energy and water conservation for the affected property. This private capital would be used to pay energy efficiency experts, such as NAESCO, to perform energy and water efficiency upgrades in HUD-assisted housing, such as housing for seniors and people with disabilities. Multifamily building owners would not take on any risk and would not need to spend any capital.…”