Steve Cohen: “My amendment, which is worthy of being considered and passed, but not necessarily to be heard, would re-appropriate $50…”

“My amendment, which is worthy of being considered and passed, but not necessarily to be heard, would re-appropriate $50 million from the Weapons Activities account to the Renewable Energy, Energy Reliability, and Efficiency account, kind of a compromise about what we've been hearing. It doesn't take too much from nuclear. It gives some back to solar. It's a compromise where we work together. In this bill, the Weapons Activities account, which had been funded at $7.7 billion, that's more than $190 million over the President's request, and over $95 million more than the account had in 2013. And to offset this increase, which the committee voted, the committee decided to do so by funding the Renewable Energy, Energy Reliability and Efficiency account at only $982 million, slashing that account by almost 50 percent in this budget. While ensuring the security of the United States is certainly very, very important, the consequences of ignoring climate change trends and data is resulting in a serious and ever-growing threat right here on our own soil. I know that the goal of everybody here in the House is energy independence, and it's a paramount concern to all of us. However, in order to achieve this goal, we must dedicate ourselves and our budget to the serious business of securing that energy future. Ensuring that our renewable energy research program is adequately funded is one of the most effective and climate-neutral ways to achieve this goal.…”