On the recordOctober 25, 2023
I thank the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy) for filing this amendment, but I respectfully oppose the same. I do share some of my colleague's concerns about the excess spending at EERE. I would also like to emphasize that EERE received over $16 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and many of these dollars are still unobligated. These reasons are exactly why the original bill reduced EERE by $466 million below the fiscal year 2023 level and why I offered further reductions in this bill of $1 billion. In total, these reductions would bring EERE below the fiscal year 2016 level. However, my colleague's amendment goes too far in eliminating EERE. I am a supporter of the EERE program and the work they do to advance research and development on renewable technologies, advanced manufacturing, and battery improvements. That includes essential work on critical minerals that will help lay the groundwork for technologies that will reduce our reliance on foreign supplies. I think this is an issue that we all can support. I support strategic reduction to EERE, but I am not in favor of eliminating the account and walking away from its ongoing work. For these reasons, I must respectfully oppose the amendment, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time. {time} 1915
