Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, let me reiterate what the gentleman from Illinois reminded us. Last year in the city of Chicago, as I understand it, 500 people died in a sweltering summer. That is not what America is supposed to be. In my State of Vermont and throughout the northern part of our country, there are millions of people, including low-income people, who simply do not have the money to adequately heat their homes. They are living in homes where when they put heat out, the heat is going through the windows, it is going through the roof, it is going through the cracks in the wall. The homes are not insulated. The weatherization concept is a cost-effective program. What is the sense of putting heat into a house when it is simply going to leak out? Mr. Chairman, over 4.4 million homes have been weatherized with these funds. Over 90 percent of the recipients make less than $15,000 a year and they spend an average of $1,100 on their energy bills. Our amendment is a sensible amendment. It is an environmental amendment. It is a conservation amendment. Most important, it is a humane amendment. People in the United States should not go cold in the wintertime.”