Nita Lowey: “Well, I first want to thank the chair, and I appreciate your important work on this bill. And I would like to thank the…”

“Well, I first want to thank the chair, and I appreciate your important work on this bill. And I would like to thank the chairman of the full committee, and the ranking member, for your leadership and for your eloquent statement on this bill. It has been a pleasure for me to work with you, and I thank you so very much. I rise in strong opposition to this woefully inadequate bill. With an allocation of $30.4 billion, $2.8 billion less than the FY 2013 enacted level, when adjusted for Sandy reconstruction, and a little more than $4 billion below the request, the consequences of following the majority's budget are crystal clear: the erosion of America's high-tech and scientific workforce, the loss of clean and renewable energy breakthroughs to countries like China, the abandonment of communities along our Nation's coastlines and waterways. And with an 81 percent reduction in ARPA-E and a 60 percent, or $700 million, reduction to energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy delivery and reliability programs compared to last year, this bill will leave our scientific and technological workforce ill-equipped to tackle the great challenges of our time. Such drastic cuts will force the Federal Government to withdraw critical support for clean energy and renewable investments on the cusp of their maturity.…”