The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1376 on June 21, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT,
2008
______
speech of
HON. RUSH D. HOLT
of new jersey
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2641) making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, and for other purposes:
Mr. HOLT. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2641, the Energy and Water and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2008. I would like to thank Chairman Visclosky and the Energy and Water Subcommittee for drafting a bill that clearly defines what our Nation's priorities should be in promoting and developing sustainable energy sources as well as taking a firm approach to dealing with our Nation's nuclear weapons complex.
This Energy and Water Appropriations bill is making two very important statements. The first relates to our Nation's energy path and climate change. I believe this bill starts to direct us to where we should be--which is on a sustainable energy course. By increasing the investment we are making to sustainable energy sources, we are making a commitment to developing an energy plan that promotes renewable energy, promotes efficiency and promotes conservation.
Last year, I criticized the Energy and Water bill for continuing the status quo and for not putting us on a path for a sustainable energy future. Today, the bill we are considering is vastly different. We have increased by 52 percent over the President's budget for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. This funding is used for energy efficiency programs such as technologies to make buildings more efficient and programs like EnergyStar. This bill also provides significant funding for alternative energy sources such as biomass, solar, and hydropower. These are the technologies of the near future and we must make the investment now.
Equally important is the public policy statement that this bill makes about nuclear nonproliferation and how we as a Nation bring rationality to our own nuclear weapons complex. Last year Congress approved a nuclear cooperation agreement with India. That deal, I believe, created a more dangerous and unstable world. We spoke at great length about the details of this cooperative agreement. We spoke at great length about how good a friend India is to us. We talked about the so-called reality of an imperfect ability to control the militarization of nuclear reactions. I said last year during that debate, that if we really believe that nuclear proliferation and loose nukes are the greatest threat to world peace and security, as I do, then we should be holding on to every tool we can find to prevent that threat.
That is why I am pleased that this bill sends a clear message about how we view our nuclear weapons complex. I believe that instead of wasting billions of additional dollars on a nuclear weapons program we don't need and that would only undermine our global nonproliferation efforts, our country should be dismantling its excess nuclear weapons and working to get other nuclear powers to join us in the effort to create a world free of nuclear weapons. Equally important, our country should be expanding its effort to secure loose or inadequately safeguarded nuclear materials in the former Soviet states. Securing these materials is our best insurance policy against terrorists getting their hands on such material and using it against us or our allies. For these reasons, I am pleased that the Energy and Water bill cuts the Department of Energy's portion of the RRW program. We must set a global example, and this is a start on moving us towards global nonproliferation.
Also, by way of my background as a scientist and researcher at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, I understand how essential it is to fully invest in programs like the Fusion Energy Sciences Program. I applaud the $427.9 million investment in this program. Never has a national commitment to fusion energy research been more timely or important to our Nation's energy future than it is right now. Fusion energy is the power of the sun and the stars, and holds the promise to become an economical, safe and clean domestic energy source. Fusion is an energy source that has the potential to increase our national energy security, while also decreasing overall world carbon dioxide emissions. I am glad to see that the Committee has decided to honor our Nation's commitment to ITER, which is a seven nation fusion program being developed currently in Cadarache, France, by allocating $160 million in funding. The remaining $267.9 million will allow the United States to be competitive in the development and deployment of fusion energy and to train and retrain the next generation of young fusion researchers who will be expected to work on ITER and in the field of fusion energy research beyond ITER.
This is a good start for an energy appropriations bill. I thank the Chairman for his cooperation and leadership on this bill and I urge my colleagues to support it.
____________________
