Alan Simpson: “Woman, I strongly oppose this ill-conceived amendment. This amendment would cut $52 million out of the Nuclear Energy…”

“Woman, I strongly oppose this ill-conceived amendment. This amendment would cut $52 million out of the Nuclear Energy Program. This is on top of an amendment that was adopted yesterday that already cuts $73 million out of the nuclear energy program. What I have heard for 2 days now is that climate change is a big issue. In fact, the drought in California and the West has been blamed on climate change. It may be true. I don't know. But if you believe that, then why are you attacking the one thing that can produce energy for this country in a carbon-free way? That makes no sense. So I strongly oppose this amendment. As I said, I understand my colleague's support for the title XVI program. Due to the request from the gentleman and many others within this Congress, funding for the title XVI program basically is at current rate while many other programs have been cut. We did this by balancing many priorities that the amendment would completely ignore. The amendment would cut, as I said, $52 million from nuclear energy. This is a 6 percent cut on top of the amendment yesterday. Accepting this amendment would be a 14 percent cut in nuclear energy. Again, if you really believe in climate change and that we have to address it, one of the major things that is going to address it is going to be nuclear energy. Well, I like wind and solar and all of those kind of things.…”