Press Releases

M. Speaker, we all know that too many Americans are unemployed. Too many Americans families are having trouble paying their energy bills. Too many of our manufacturing jobs have gone overseas to China and other countries.

Now, the Democratic Congress has brought bill after bill after bill to the floor to help American families weather these time economic times and make long-term investments in a clean economy so the United States maintains its status as the world leader in innovation.

And, every time, my friends on the other side of the aisle have overwhelming voted -no.-

Unfortunately, I think that will be their strategy today on this Rural Star bill.

This is a good, cost-effective bill. Rural Star will create high-skill, high-wage manufacturing and construction jobs while delivering energy savings to millions of Americans by providing access to capital and energy efficient technologies.

In fact, the National Association of Home Builders endorsed this bill, saying that H.R. 4785 will quote - -save energy for American families, create jobs, and reap environmental rewards.- - end quote. I ask unanimous consent to insert the Home Builder's letter of support into the record at the end of my remarks.

And let's not forget that this bill will put people to work, keep good-paying manufacturing jobs here in the United States and lower the utility bills of families and farms across the country.

The truth is, more than 92 percent of energy efficiency products are manufactured here in America. We're talking about insulation, windows, doors, and water heaters. That's why this is so important - a family or business will not only hire someone to install these energy efficiency products, these products will be made in our backyard. Make it in America - that's what Democrats want and what we stand for. There shouldn't be one Member in this body who opposes putting Americans to work in this fashion.

And not only will H.R. 4785 result in more American jobs, it will lower families' and farms' utility bills. This is particularly important in rural areas, where customers are facing increasing costs for electric power. Rural electric co-ops are facing a growing demand for electric power at a time when they are constrained from building new generation capacity. The gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Inglis, supports this bill because the positive impacts on rural electric co-ops and he said so during his testimony at the Rules Committee. I want to thank Mr. Inglis for his support and for putting American jobs over partisanship today.

To my colleagues who argue this bill will cost too much, I want to remind them that the programs in the bill involve loans, not grants. These loans must be repaid.

CBO has analyzed the legislation and concluded that it does not score. The legislation is fully compliant with statutory PAYGO and House PAYGO rules.

I hope everyone will take a close look at the important provisions in the Rural Star bill that will put Americans to work and help transition us to a stable clean energy economy of tomorrow.

I urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying bill, and reserve the balance of my time.