Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for yielding and rise to strongly oppose the Gosar amendment to completely eliminate the ARPA-E advanced energy research program, which helps propel our Nation forward as a global leader. I could just say to the gentleman from Arizona, for some of the firms that have contacted me, the Chinese are hacking into their intellectual property every week as they struggle to maintain a global lead in new energy technologies. Yes, ARPA-E is a pioneering program. It was designed to be that way. Yes, it is high risk. Yes, it is high end, so much so that the private sector won't do what ARPA-E is conducting. The research is so high in science that most companies in this country can't even touch it. And, frankly, I don't want the Chinese designing our future. They are actually doing research before the private market can drive it forward with a commercial product. I would like to point out that, in 2011, an American Enterprise Institute-Brookings Institution breakthrough study called for ARPA-E to be funded at $1.5 billion, annually, because of other countries around the world beginning to do research in a way that was competing with our own. The American Energy Innovation Council, a panel of many of the Nation's top business leaders, including Bill Gates, have called for ARPA-E to be funded at $1 billion a year. And last year, Republican officials--oil and energy executives, business leaders, including the U.S.…”