Lois Capps: “First of all, thank you, Chairman Gordon, for your great work on this bill. I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Markey…”

“First of all, thank you, Chairman Gordon, for your great work on this bill. I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Markey, for your leadership on clean energy issues. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the Markey-Capps amendment, which is included in our legislation. The Markey-Capps amendment would complement the clean energy advancement goals of the America COMPETES Act by creating a regional clean energy consortia program. This program will bring together regional networks of research universities, of national labs, of businesses and investors in the clean energy sector to accelerate the commercialization of new clean energy technologies. They will also stimulate regional economic development and create jobs in places like the central coast of California, which I represent. The Green Coast Innovation Zone, GCIZ, in my district is built on this model and is eager to expand further into the clean energy sector. This provision will support their efforts to create high-quality green jobs that pay well and cannot be outsourced. So I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the Markey-Capps amendment.”