On the recordJuly 21, 2010
Representative Garamendi, I like these lightning rounds. I think you are right on to the absolute powerful course to make certain that tax policy speaks in defense of American workers, American families. Absolutely essential, making certain that there is an agenda here to invest in education, because we are training the workforce of the future. But what we also need to do--and I am convinced that we can do it smarter. If we don't do it cheaper, we can still win if we do it smarter. I look at all of the opportunities that we can do through energy efficiency retrofitting, that we can take manufacturing and upgrade it so that we are creating a state-of-the-art facility. Energy costs are significant in production, in production costs, in manufacturing costs. When I look at the potential of providing, for that efficiency, retrofitting, I saw it NYSERDA. I served as president and CEO at the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority just prior to entering Congress. We saw many, many businesses coming to us to ask for programmatic help, to make their efficiency and on site as powerful as could be. We need to see that as our fuel of choice. We need to drill and mine for efficiency like you would drill for oil and mine for coal. It is that valuable a resource, and we have invested in that. We have invested in all sorts of innovation in the energy arena through the Recovery Act. This is a visionary policy-driven administration.
