Energy Efficient Government Technology Act

Mr. President, I wish to submit to the Senate the budget scorekeeping report for April 2018. The report compares current-law levels of spending and revenues with the amounts the Senate agreed to in the budget resolution for fiscal year 2018, H. Con. Res. 71. This information is necessary for the Senate Budget Committee to determine whether budget points of order lie against pending legislation. The Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee and the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, prepared this report pursuant to section

308(b) of the Congressional Budget Act, CBA.

The enforceable levels included in this report reflect all of the numerical adjustments made to the resolution since its passage. The information contained in this report captures legislative activity from passage of the budget resolution through April 9, 2018. The only law enacted with significant budgetary effects since my last filing, on February 28, 2018, was the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, P.L. 115-141.

Republican Budget Committee staff prepared tables 1 to 4 of this report.

Table 1 gives the amount by which each Senate authorizing committee exceeds or is below its allocation for budget authority and outlays under the most recently adopted budget resolution. This information is used for enforcing committee allocations pursuant to section 302 of the CBA. For this reporting period, 10 of the 16 authorizing committees are in compliance with their allocations. As previously reported, the Senate Veterans' Affairs; Energy and Natural Resources; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; Finance; and Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committees are in breach of their allocations. Since my last report, several committees' allocations were affected by changes in the nonappropriations provisions included in the omnibus appropriations bill. Still, the only new committee creating a breach was the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, which spent $100 million more in both budget authority and outlays through Division P of the omnibus, Ray Baum's Act of 2018, than allowed under the budget resolution.

Table 2 gives the amount by which the Senate Committee on Appropriations is below or exceeds the statutory spending limits. This information is used to determine points of order related to the spending caps found in sections 312 and 314 of the CBA. Appropriations for 2018 are consistent with the statutory limits as modified by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.

The budget resolution contains two points of order limiting the use of changes in mandatory programs in appropriations bills, CHIMPS. Tables 3 and 4 show compliance with fiscal year 2018 limits for overall CHIMPS $17 billion, and the crime victims fund CHIMP, $11.2 billion, respectively. This information is used for determining points of order under sections 4102 and 4103 of H. Con. Res. 71, respectively. CHIMPS included in the 2018 omnibus comply with the existing limits.

In addition to the tables provided by Budget Committee Republican staff, I am submitting CBO tables, which I will use to enforce budget totals approved by Congress.

CBO provided a spending and revenue report for fiscal year 2018, which helps enforce aggregate spending levels in budget resolutions under CBA section 311. CBO's estimates, which now include the full effects of appropriations for this year, show that current-law levels of spending for fiscal year 2018 are above the amounts assumed in the budget resolution by $152.2 billion in budget authority and $105.5 billion in outlays. For fiscal year 2018, Social Security outlay levels remain consistent with the budget resolution's assumption

Current-law revenues continue to be in excess of the levels assumed by the budget resolution. On-budget revenue levels currently exceed assumed levels by $3.2 billion in fiscal year 2018, $39.8 billion over the fiscal year 2018-2022 period, and $94.2 billion over the fiscal year 2018-2027 period. For fiscal year 2018, Social Security revenues are $446 million below levels assumed in the budget resolution.

CBO's report also provides information needed to enforce the Senate pay-as-you-go, PAYGO, rule. The Senate's PAYGO scorecard currently shows deficit reduction of $24 million in fiscal year 2018, but deficit increases of $10 million over the fiscal year 2017-2022 period and $11 million over the fiscal year 2017-2027 period. For fiscal year 2018, legislation has been enacted that would reduce outlays by $24 million. Over the fiscal year 2017-2022 period, legislation has been enacted that CBO estimates will decrease outlays by $13 million and decrease revenues by $23 million. Over the fiscal year 2017-2027 period, legislation has been enacted that CBO estimates will decrease outlays by $11 million and decrease revenues by $22 million. Consistent with recent congressional practice, the direct spending and revenue provisions included in the non-Appropriations Committee portion of the fiscal year 2018 omnibus, which increased deficits by $2.8 billion over 10 years are being excluded from PAYGO calculations. This is due to provisions in the omnibus that mandated the exclusion of those budgetary effects both from the Senate and statutory PAYGO scorecards. The Senate's PAYGO rule is enforced by section 4106 of H. Con. Res. 71.

Also included in this submission is a table tracking the Senate's budget enforcement activity on the floor since Congress adopted the budget resolution. Two points of order were raised since my last filing. On March 14, 2018, Senator Sanders raised a PAYGO point of order against S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. This point of order was waived by a vote of 67 to 31. On March 21, 2018, Leader McConnell raised a PAYGO point of order against Senator Wyden's amendment, S. Amdt. 2213, to H.R. 1865, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017. This point of order was sustained with a vote of 21 to 78 on Senator Wyden's waiver motion.

All years in the accompanying tables are fiscal years.

I ask unanimous consent that the accompanying tables be printed in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am really pleased to rise today in support of this legislation, the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act.

I want to thank my colleague and friend, Mr. Olson, for his wonderful description of the bill and his important support of it. I want to thank the new chairman of the full committee, Mr. Walden, and the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Pallone, for their support, and my legislative partner, Adam Kinzinger, for his partnership on this bill.

I hope that this, the 115th Congress, is going to be the magic charm. I have introduced this bill now in three Congresses, and it passed in each Congress, but it didn't make it to the President's desk. I hope this time it will.

The bill is really a very simple one. It is about bringing the Federal Government's IT and data centers into the 21st century. The Federal Government is the Nation's largest energy user. I want to say that again. The Federal Government is our Nation's largest energy user, and we should lead by example in this area.

By requiring Federal agencies to utilize the best technologies and energy management strategies, this bill will reduce the government's energy use. Very importantly, it is going to save taxpayer dollars, and it is going to also set an example for the private sector.

Today, the world generates more data in 12 hours than was generated in all of human history prior to 2003.

I can tell by the look on your face, Mr. Speaker, that that takes your breath away.

This data must be stored and processed at data centers, which are the backbone of the 21st century economy, but can be highly energy inefficient. While we now routinely hear about data centers, this was not the case when I began examining this issue over a decade ago. In those days, I had to explain to my colleagues what a data center was.

In 2005, I offered language in the Energy Policy Act which mandated an EPA study on the energy use and energy costs of data centers. This report was then transmitted to Congress in 2007, and today most Americans understand that data centers are a critical part of our national infrastructure and are found in nearly every sector of our economy.

According to the GSA, the Federal Government, alone, has more than 2,000 data centers which store everything from Social Security and tax records to e-books at the Library of Congress.

Several Silicon Valley companies have taken the lead in developing efficient, sustainable data centers, but we can do much, much more across the private sector and the government.

The Department of Energy estimates that the 70 billion kilowatt hours of electricity that are used by U.S. data centers annually could be slashed in half simply through implementation of best practices and existing technologies.

This bill, H.R. 306, will drive energy efficiency improvements across the government's IT and data centers by requiring Federal agencies to, number one, utilize the best technologies and energy management strategies; two, formulate specific goals and periodically review their energy efficiency--it

is very important to track the efficiencies--and, three, make government center data energy usage statistics public in a way that empowers further innovation.

Importantly, the bill requires government agencies to formulate specific performance goals and a means to calculate overall cost savings from implementation.

Mr. Speaker, as I said, I first introduced the legislation in 2013. It has passed the House by wide margins in each of the last two Congresses. It is noncontroversial. It is bipartisan. It makes sense. I want to urge all of my colleagues to support the bill.

I thank my colleagues on a bipartisan basis at the Energy and Commerce Committee, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McNerney), my valued colleague on the committee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 306) to amend the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 to promote energy efficiency via information and computing technologies, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the Record on the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government is a major consumer of electricity, and its information technologies account for a large and growing percentage of that major use. That is why we need H.R. 306, the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act, introduced by my good friend from California (Ms. Eshoo).

This bill creates a process by which Federal agencies can incorporate the latest efficiency improvements in their information technologies, including data centers. It also sets out yardsticks to measure progress.

The result of this bill would be lower Federal energy bills and taxpayer savings. In addition, the Federal Government can set an example for energy efficiency that the private sector IT systems would be able to copy.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I join my colleague in trying to spice things up, so I reserve the balance of my allotted time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have been a naval aviator, a Senate staffer, and a Member of Congress. In those 20 years, the best leaders I have seen are ones who lead by example. H.R. 306 makes sure D.C. leads by example. If we lead, the whole country will follow.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``aye'' on H.R. 306.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to support H.R. 306, the Energy Efficient Government Technology Act, sponsored by the committee. It is also bipartisan, as my colleague from California mentioned, sponsored by Ms. Eshoo and Mr. Kinzinger of Illinois.

H.R. 306 promotes the use of energy efficiency and energy savings information technologies and practices across the Federal Government, especially in data centers.

The bill amends the Energy Independence Act of 2007 to require Federal agencies to coordinate with the OMB, DOE, and EPA in developing an implementation strategy for the maintenance, purchase, and use of energy efficiency and energy savings information technology.

Ten percent of Federal electricity is consumed by Federal energy centers. H.R. 306 aims to keep that at 10 percent or even to reduce it.

The legislation also sets out specific items for consideration in developing an implementation strategy that requires the establishment of performance goals for evaluating agencies' efforts. In addition, the bill would amend the 2007 act to require the DOE and EPA to collaborate with stakeholders in the implementation of data centers, efficiency programs, and other measures to improve data center energy efficiency.

Again, the legislation was passed by the House without dissent last year as stand-alone legislation. I urge my colleagues to support it.

I commend my colleagues Ms. Eshoo and Mr. Kinzinger.