Washington, D.C. - House Energy and Commerce Republican Leader for Energy Fred Upton delivered opening remarks at today’s subcommittee hearing on preserving jobs and avoiding Green New Deal-style energy and environment policies.
Excerpts and highlights from his remarks:
THE IMPORTANCE OF BIPARTISAN CLEAN ENERGY LEGISLATION
“Thank you Chairman Rush, for holding today’s virtual hearing. This is the first legislative hearing in the Subcommittee this Congress, after a big bipartisan success with the passage of the Energy Act of 2020 just three months ago.
“The Energy Act of 2020 is the most significant energy legislation in more than a decade, with substantial new regulatory policies and big increases in spending authority for energy efficiency, technology innovation, and grid modernization. We passed demonstration projects for natural gas, carbon capture, nuclear, energy storage, hydro, and the list goes on.
“We came together on these clean energy projects and programs the Members of this committee have supported for years, and we pushed them over the finish. It was hard work and it took some time, but that is what it takes to get signed into law with bipartisan support.
“The Energy Act of 2020 is our bipartisan roadmap for clean energy innovation and the most recent reflection of bipartisan Congressional intent - now we must turn to implementation. We have an aggressive timeline of new programs and more than a dozen large scale demonstration projects that must be funded in the next few years.
“The Committee must be focused on holding DOE accountable to the Energy Act of 2020 timelines, rather than rushing ahead a new partisan bill."
ON THE DEMOCRATS’ EMBRACE OF GREEN NEW DEAL-STYLE ENERGY POLICY
“Unfortunately, that is not the approach we are taking today. Sadly, it appears the Democrats are embracing the Green New Deal, which has been rebranded as the CLEAN Future Act. To sum it up, the CLEAN Future Act is a 981 page bill with hundreds of billions of dollars in American taxpayer giveaways to countries like China that control critical mineral production and cheap labor. It’s a “Rush to Green" and a radical transformation of America’s workforce. The CLEAN Future Act could eradicate millions of great jobs in fossil, nuclear, and manufacturing, while leaving America’s workers behind.
“The Democrat’s Clean Future Act promises to remove good paying jobs, retrain workers, and relocate them to new cities where they will have to make a new life for themselves. It will decimate our energy security and leave us hooked on China for cheap solar panels and batteries. This is no future for America.
“Rather than jamming this CLEAN Future bill through the Committee process, I urge my Democrat colleagues to slow down and think about the damage this will do to America’s workers.
“I look forward to using today’s hearing to focus on these very real issues facing our workers. I would like to welcome Mr. Hofmann, President of Utility Workers Local 132, who will testify today on behalf of 4,000 union workers in Southern California. They are on the front lines of this fight in California, which is the model the Democrats want to force on the rest of the nation.
“Mr. Hofmann, I look forward to your testimony on the importance of a balanced policy that protects workers and access to affordable energy. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will abandon this aggressive, partisan approach in favor of an all-of-the-above strategy that prioritizes energy security, reliability, and affordability."
