Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5013, and I want to commend Mr. Andrews and all of his colleagues who have worked so diligently on this important piece of legislation. I have offered an amendment, along with Congresswoman Giffords and Congressman Bartlett, which seeks to make the Department of Defense more energy efficient. This goal is absolutely essential to improving defense acquisition. The Department of Defense accounts for 80 percent of the U.S. Government's energy consumption, including 330,000 barrels of oil each day. Just petroleum products cost the DOD $13 billion per year. Passing my amendment will save money and will conserve energy by including energy efficiency as a metric in performance assessment of defense acquisitions. It will also make weapon systems more energy efficient, which is a critical reform that can save lives. In Afghanistan, consider that the Marines alone consume 800,000 gallons of fuel each day. These 800,000 gallons of fuel must cross from Pakistan into Afghanistan through a lawless border region. During this 400-mile trip from Karachi, convoys are extremely vulnerable to IEDs, but energy-efficient weapons systems reduces fuel use, which reduces the number of convoys, which reduces the number of troops in harm's way. I urge you to support my amendment and to support energy efficiency in the defense acquisition process, and I yield back the balance of my time.”