Marcy Kaptur: “Let me say to the gentleman from California that I am sympathetic toward his efforts on the renewable energy activities…”

“Let me say to the gentleman from California that I am sympathetic toward his efforts on the renewable energy activities at the Department of Energy as they are critical for America's energy future, and I'm torn as I listen to his arguments. I just wanted to demonstrate a chart here that shows the relative superiority of the United States in the nuclear weapons field, the largest total inventory in the world, with Russia right behind. We have a significant nuclear capacity, much greater than nations that follow: France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, North Korea. The United States has quite significant nuclear complexes, and we must maintain them, and we must provide security for them. I think that the President's negotiations with Russia provide us with a very important opportunity to cut the systems and to do so in a responsible way that continues our superiority and our security, while bringing down the possibilities of reducing these weapons globally. The gentleman's amendment would actually move funds--$335 million from our weapons accounts--and move them to energy efficiency and renewable energy, which is a move that I would like to support at a future date--the sooner, the better. I appreciate him offering the amendment. Though I agree with his intent, as I've said many times before, the allocation for this bill is simply insufficient, and we're robbing one account to try to put funds in another account. I must very reluctantly oppose the gentleman's amendment.…”