On the recordJuly 14, 2011
The gentlewoman's amendment would reduce funding in the departmental accounts. Because of quite a few amendments we have already passed on the floor, your reduction would not be a 5 percent reduction; it probably would be a 10 percent reduction. I know generally there is not a lot of sympathy for administrative responsibilities in the Department of Energy, but this would leave Secretary Steve Chu with not perhaps enough people in his operation to oversee a lot of issues that he has before him, including solar energy. May I say for the record, the Solar Energy account in the Department of Energy budget is $166 million. It is less than perhaps what it should be, but if you take it from the Department administrative account, we will have, I think, cause for more managerial problems to deal with. We also, may I say, have in the Energy Efficiency and Renewable program, as I have mentioned on a number of occasions, $9 billion of unspent stimulus funds. So there is plenty of money in here, and I don't think that the Department salaries and wages ought to suffer and be reduced at a time when they need the additional leadership over there. I somewhat reluctantly oppose your amendment and urge my colleagues to do so as well. I yield back the balance of my time. {time} 1630
