WASHINGTON, D.C. -Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander M. Levin (D-MI) issued the following opening statement at today’s full Committee hearing on Energy Tax Incentives and the Green Job Economy:
“The Ways and Means Committee is aggressively engaged in advancing legislation that will support business expansion and create new jobs here in the United States.
“In the past two months, the Committee has advanced two separate bills that would encourage businesses to hire new employees, provide tax relief to small businesses so that they can grow and expand, and assist local communities, finance infrastructure improvements that support local community jobs.
“Today, the Committee will examine ways that the federal government can help boost the Green Jobs Economy.
“Consider all that is at stake: Cutting edge technologies of the future; manufacturing capacity to build these advanced technology products; lower energy costs for families and businesses; reducing our dependence on foreign oil; and preserving the environment for future generations.
“The upside potential for our country is immense, but it will not happen automatically.
“Unfortunately, while some progress has been made in recent years, our country, in this area, is playing catch up. We have lacked an energy policy for changing times and changing technologies. We have been behind the curve and we have been handicapped by those who feel it should be done only by the private sector.
“The governments of other countries have not taken this view and they are racing ahead to dominate in this area. While we need a different partnership than those adopted by others - an American partnership - the wrong answer has been that there should be no partnership at all.
“Take for example the electric vehicle. GM is going to bring the Volt to market on schedule, but initially the battery packs are being supplied by South Korea. Why? In part, this is because for years the South Korean government had a strategy to financially support this technology and the local industry. We are on the cusp of changing that because of private sector investment and accelerated public support for battery development.
“A recent paper from the National Foreign Trade Council says: ‘Chinese planners have indicated their intention that eventually most or all of the renewable energy equipment installed in China will be made in China… This objective is advanced through a sweeping array of laws, regulations and other measures… China has emerged as a world leader in the manufacture of solar photovoltaic technology, and could become the world’s leading exporter of wind turbines.’
“Last year, the Recovery Act took important steps in boosting consumer demand and investing in advanced technologies. Through grants and tax incentives for businesses, individuals and communities we made the Green Jobs Economy a priority and our actions are having an impact. [Please click here to view an outline of renewable energy programs in the Recovery Act.]
“The combination of the Recovery Act and the 2008 energy tax package provided long term extensions of our main incentives producing electricity from wind, solar and other renewable sources. We have made these incentives work better by providing a direct payment option.
“The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated that the Recovery Act will result in twice as much electricity generated from wind than would have been produced without the policies included in the Recovery Act. Over the next six years, the EIA projected that residential tax credits for solar equipment will encourage more than 1.6 million solar units to be installed nationwide.
“The EIA further predicts that home and business energy bills will be $13 billion lower in 2020 than they would have been if Congress did not pass the Recovery Act, which contained significant tax incentives for home and business energy conservation.
“Tax credits for plug-in electric vehicles are expected to bring 90,000 vehicles to market in the year 2015 alone. The EIA estimates that these tax credits ‘will allow both battery and battery-system manufacturers to achieve earlier economies of scale through greater initial sales, thus allowing battery and system costs to decline more quickly than would have been the case without the tax credit.’
“However, we cannot rest. It is important to identify ways that we can build on these efforts
“In particular, although we are making strides in generating long-term demand for green technology, we have significant work to do to make certain this demand is satisfied with goods produced in the United States.
“Today we will hear testimony that the ‘U.S. wind turbine manufacturing industry is not currently capable of supplying 100% of the wind power capacity’ that would be constructed with the support of these Recovery Act programs.
“While jobs are created when we construct a solar facility, still more jobs are created when the components that are used in that facility are manufactured here in the United States.
“If we are not aggressive about expanding our green manufacturing capacity, these manufacturing jobs will be created overseas and the United States will become more reliant on products that are produced outside of our borders.
“The United States took a good first step towards supporting domestic manufacturing in the Recovery Act when we provided $2.3 billion of allocated investment tax credits for manufacturers that establish, re-equip and expand domestic manufacturing facilities to produce advanced energy equipment.
“Demand in this area far exceeded its allocation. U.S. businesses put forward 3 times or over $8.1 billion of investment tax credits plans under this program. The Administration has proposed an additional $5 billion of these tax credits for a new round of competitive awards.
“What is at stake is clear: good jobs, advanced technology, low energy costs, national security and a cleaner environment. What we need to make crystal clear is that the government is a full, active and effective partner in achieving that end.
“I hope that we can proceed on a bipartisan basis to achieve these goals. There are a number of proposals for renewable energy incentives before the Committee that have bipartisan support, and I hope that we can translate that into bipartisan action because action is what we so clearly need today, and for the future."
