Paul Tonko: “First, I would like to thank Representative Welch and Representative Sablan for working with me on this amendment, and I…”

“First, I would like to thank Representative Welch and Representative Sablan for working with me on this amendment, and I thank the gentlelady from Ohio for the opportunity to chair the amendment in the House. Madam Chair, this bill would be fine if we were still living in the 1950s, in a world where we had few energy limitations, no knowledge of the fact that burning fossil fuels would alter the chemistry of our atmosphere and the trajectory of our Earth's climate. We lived in a world where energy was much more affordable and a world where the United States was the dominant economic and manufacturing power. It was also a time when there were two nuclear powers, and we believed that nuclear weapons were a guarantee of security. Well, it is not the 1950s, and this bill does not meet our present or future needs. The overall funding level is too small, and the funding distribution reflects the wrong priorities. Our amendment addresses just two of the important programs that are grossly underfunded in this bill: the Weatherization Assistance Program and the State Energy Program. Energy is a significant part of families' budgets, and its cost is especially burdensome for low-income families and the elderly who live on fixed incomes. Burning fossil fuels generates emissions that are leading us into a much warmer future and one with unstable, unusual weather patterns. We cannot afford to reduce our support of energy efficiency.…”