Political Quotes

“I often say, there are some in this Chamber who seem to know the cost of everything yet the value of nothing. Without question there are savings to be found in the federal government, but sometimes to realize those savings we have to invest a little money. Let's take the federal government's energy consumption as a case in point. Since coming into office in 2009, the Obama administration has made it a priority to make the federal government a leader in reducing energy consumption and increasing energy efficiency. The administration recognizes that as the nation's largest energy consumer, the federal government has a tremendous opportunity and a clear responsibility to lead by example in energy efficiency. The federal government operates more than 500,000 buildings and other structures comprising more than 3 billion square feet, and it operates a fleet of more than 600,000 civilian and non-tactical military vehicles. The total cost of energy consumption to the Federal government was nearly $25 billion in FY2012. I am pleased the President has made energy efficiency in federal buildings a priority of his Climate Action Plan. The President's recent commitment of another $2 billion in energy efficiency in federal buildings is a critical step in reducing both energy costs and carbon emissions. As a result of these actions we have reduced energy use per square foot in federal buildings by more than 9 percent since FY2008, curbing pollution and reducing utility bills.…”