Scott Garrett: “Mr. Chairman, first of all before I begin, let me commend a prior speaker, the gentleman from Texas, with his references…”

“Mr. Chairman, first of all before I begin, let me commend a prior speaker, the gentleman from Texas, with his references to homeland security and the efforts that need to be made. I completely concur with the majority of the points that he makes. This House, as you know, just dealt with those issues the other day on homeland security and how it relates to my congressional district is one of the forefront issues that I deal with. I commend the points he is making there. Tied to homeland security is energy security as well. We will not be a secure country if we are not secure with regard to our energy needs. Much in this underlying legislation and what the administration is calling for is working towards that laudable goal, energy efficiency and renewable energies as well. And I concur with the previous speaker with his remarks as well, that we must move in that direction. I guess the rub is how you get to some of these things. When you talk to your local constituents back at home. When we have the opportunity to go back to our districts and talk to them and they see just how Washington spends their very hard-earned dollars, they must think we are literally burning their dollars down here and wasting them on inefficient programs.”