Chris Smith: “I thank my good friend for yielding. I want to congratulate Chairman Royce on the Electrify Africa Act as a companion…”

“I thank my good friend for yielding. I want to congratulate Chairman Royce on the Electrify Africa Act as a companion bill to the legislation that we have before us today. We held a hearing in my subcommittee that Karen Bass will remember well in November of 2014. The blessings that will accrue from a huge effort to electrify Africa are almost without limit, especially when it comes to health care and ensuring that students can have proper light to go to school and to study, particularly at night. All of the benefits that we take for granted in the United States and in other parts of the world still have yet to come to Africa. In the 21st century, energy has become vital, as we all know, to modern societies. We no longer have to shop for food each day. Refrigerators keep food cold and preserved longer, whether in our homes, in restaurants, or during the process of transportation. Cell phones, computers, televisions, and other electronics require electrical power to allow us to lead more productive lives in the modern world and increasingly in the developing world. As we have seen in the recent Ebola epidemic and in the current Zika virus epidemic, it is vital that medicines and plasma be kept cold so that they don't lose their potency. Of course, in the preservation of blood and so many other items that are essential to life, electricity facilitates their continuance and their potency.…”