Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 332 I was unable to vote due to the fact that I was meeting with constituents. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Sure. Absolutely. Let me thank you, Mr. Polis, for managing our discussion this evening here on the floor of the House of Representatives. It is a pleasure to join you. I know you have been an outspoken voice for greening up our thinking as it comes to energy and the environment and the economy, three areas that are critical right now that face a crisis of some dimension, and we can resolve those crises simply by moving forward with progressive policies.

So I thank you for providing the leadership here this evening on the floor and to join with you and our friend and colleague Representative Heinrich because, you know, you are surrounded here by two mechanical engineers in background, education background.

It doesn't. We are usually vastly outnumbered. So it is good

for us to step back and look at these issues from an academic perspective and to respond to them in technological terms. That is real leadership. And the President, the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, leaders here across the board here in the House and rank-and-file Members have joined together to speak forcefully about just what we can accomplish if we set our sights on this innovation economy that is sparked by a green energy arena.

The numbers of jobs that we can create in this clean energy career ladder are tremendous. It is a way to provide opportunities for those emerging members of the workforce and to train and retrain our existing workforce. As we look at the opportunities out there, they are immense.

Representative Polis, you talked about the fear and despair approach taken by some as they try to message in very negative terms the work that is being done in this area. Well, a $475 billion bill that finds money going to foreign imports for fossil-based fuels could be referenced as a tax. We might say we are paying our bills for the energy supply we need, but it is taxing our economy and, more importantly, it is taxing households, families that could otherwise be producing here in America the supplies we need with American jobs, American know-how, American intellect.

You know, as I listened to our Representative from New Mexico, as Representative Heinrich spoke of that global race back from the decades ago, from the sixties, having heard Sputnik over and over again in the elementary classroom and having seen us in a race somewhat narrower than today's race would be, Russia, the U.S. all competing to land a person on the moon. But a vision shared by a very eloquent, articulate leader of this Nation, John F. Kennedy, allowed us to come together as a nation in multipartisan frameworks and provide the kind of energy that is required to get us to think in those positive and progressive terms, and it stretched our thinking, it provided loftiness to the outcomes, and it created career opportunities for many.

That same race, global race, is upon us today, and it is not like we have a choice to enter into the race. We have no choice but to be part of it, and the pressure is on for us to win.

When China invests $12.7 million per hour in its greening-up opportunities, that is a signal to us that we can and we must do better than we are today. And whoever emerges, whichever country emerges the leader, the winner of that race, will then be that go-to nation that will export energy intellect, energy innovation, energy ideas. The energy capital that we can build will be extremely valuable for all of our American families.

I, as you know, had worked at NYSERDA before I entered here. I had chaired the Energy Committee in the New York State Assembly for 15 of my 25 years in the Assembly, and then went to assume the role of president and CEO at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

Projects that found us utilizing our wind, our sun, our Earth, our soil and our water enabled us to create energy supplies for New York State. Hydrokinetic power that was produced simply by the turbulence of the East River along the shoreline of the Island of Manhattan is there as a demonstration project, an R&D project, that as a prototype holds promise, great promise, when deployed into the manufacturing and commercial sectors.

The opportunity for geothermal, where I witnessed at the Culinary Institute of America six new dorms, lodges as they are referred to, utilizing geothermal as an energy source, and using the constant temperature of the Earth far below us was a simple and novel idea, almost cave-like in its concept, but it is providing modern-day usage. And certainly wind, solar, PV, all being utilized in New York State, as much as 1,100 megawatts worth of wind power.

So this is possible. It is very possible. And the jobs that we can create are countless as we go forward, and it provides energy security, energy independence, and therefore I believe is critically important to us, to our national security. We won't be putting our sons and daughters in harm's way because we won't be in the battle zone fighting over the commodity of oil and fossil-based fuels.

Absolutely. And, you know, we will have to pay some other nation for their ideas. When we spoke the other day with the SEEC Caucus, of which both of you made mention, with the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, the Green Dogs, so-to-speak, in the 111th Congress, we heard from the most recent energy minister, past energy minister, that a lot of American know-how and patents were being utilized in Denmark. Well, if we are coming up with this intellectual capacity and this brain power, what a shame if we don't invest it for our own benefit.

So the time is now to move. The time is long past that we have a comprehensive energy plan for this Nation. And it was one of the motivations for me to run for Congress, so that we could come here and do those sound policies that will move us into a new era of energy thinking, eclipsing us from a political generation of denial.

Well, one of the great investments at NYSERDA in the State context that I functioned was a huge investment in R&D. And you need to see that R&D, research and development, and deployment, I would add, are economic development tools. You are using very bright minds with clever ideas, putting that lab experiment together.

Then we need to further commit to the deployment stage. You cannot just research and develop. You need to take that success story, of which there are many, and deploy them into manufacturing and the commercial use of those ideas. That is what this agenda is about. And it is not maintaining the spirit of $475 billion per year of American dollars, call it a tax, call it an investment, call it paying your bills. Whatever it is, it is cash leaving us to help another economy that isn't providing any benefit because these are, in many cases, unstable governments and some of the most troubled spots in the world.

Mr. Polis, if I might, to the comments made by Representative Connolly of Virginia, and I thank him for his insight, to those comments I would add that as we achieve those efficiency outcomes, we are also cleaning the environment. We have the moral responsibility to make certain that our children, our grandchildren, generations that will follow us, do not get handicapped by some sort of situation out there like climate change, global warming, the carbon footprint, that will destroy our environment.

The air we breathe is essential, and as stewards today of the environment that we inherited, we must pass it on to further generations, future generations, in a state that is acceptable, clean and better, improved, so that we can achieve that.

While we are on the battery situation, I would just make quick mention of GE. Their corporate headquarters are in Schenectady, which is housed within the 21st Congressional District within New York State, which I represent.

GE recently announced its intentions to build an advanced battery manufacturing center in the capital district region of New York. That will provide some 350 to 400 jobs for a state-of-the-art battery that will deal with sodium chloride and nickel as a combination, adding to the diversity. There are lithium-ion batteries that are spoken of and other sorts of batteries that are being encouraged. This provides for diversity, which is sound for our mix. It is good for our energy choices.

That battery will be able to be used for heavy vehicles. That is important. It can be used for intermittent energy storage, and it can be utilized also for energy generation.

So the transportation sector, the energy generation and energy storage areas can all be addressed by this battery innovation. That is the key that can unlock the door to immense potential and opportunities of all kinds.

So we are at the cusp, I believe, of tremendous discoveries here that will allow us to compete effectively in this global race to be the energy go-to nation.

Sometimes the issue comes across in such a complex picture that it's difficult for people to get their arms around what the discussion is all about. To repeat what I mentioned earlier about the hundreds of billions of dollars that we have been spending that go to foreign nations that import to us these fossil-based fuels, we need to see this as an embracing of the American intellect, to take ideas that are there shelf-ready and put them to work for us. It's, quite simply, American power to power America. It is providing our opportunity to utilize the American workforce to produce this power that then powers this country to do all that it needs to do.

It provides great opportunities for manufacturing sectors, and for our business communities, small and large, because I witness firsthand what happens when we retrofit these facilities, even our dairy farms in New York State, with state-of-the-art opportunities for efficiency. Where you need to use fuel for the power that you're using, let's use it efficiently. That's good for the environment; it's good for the economy. It's good for the energy equation.

But in many cases we'll be able to produce that power we need with no fuel cost. So the $475 billion that has been spent annually that goes outside this Nation's boundaries is a fuel cost. We won't have that fuel cost when we benignly utilize our wind, our sun, our soil and our water.

And I think that's an effective way to approach a situation where we allow for the brain power of this country that is invested in, when people choose their career paths. We want to make certain that all that investment in the classroom and on the college campuses and in the private sector through its R&D opportunities of workforce training and development, we want to put that to work here. And we have those available solutions. We need to go forward with that sort of concept.

And, again, it takes a vision. I believe this public, the American public, joins in the efforts when a vision is painted for them. It's been painted in bold green measure by President Obama. His administration is taking us to a new level of thinking. The Speaker of the House, the leadership in this House, the Members, the rank and file Members of the majority know this is the right thing to do. And it takes that boldness of vision and that determination, the integrity to move us to this new economy, and it will happen.

Absolutely. Mr. Polis, I would add this: As Representative in Colorado, like any of us as Representatives, we have seen far too many of our sons and daughters lost in the efforts to, in our involvement in the Mid East. Some of this money is going to those nations that we are now fighting against with the war on terrorism and the war in the Mid East. And so it really behooves us to think in newer terms, in bolder terms, in ways that build our independence, our security and our national security, which is critically important to us as we speak.

Representative Polis, I believe that even T. Boone Pickens has said we are not going to drill our way out of this given crisis. This energy crisis needs to be addressed in a constructive way. The constructive way reminds us that there are ways to produce power, as you suggest, without a fuel cost. And then our fuel of choice needs to be energy efficiency. That plant which we never built simply because we have reduced demand by a

given order of megawatts is then allowing us to avoid the construction of a larger facility. And we can do that.

When you look at the size of this Nation, the population, the business sector, any 1 percent of improvement translates into a huge supply, as Representative Connolly mentioned earlier, of power saved. And the demand side of the equation was not addressed by the previous administration. It was supply, supply, supply: How much more can we create and let people consume? We have some of the most gluttonous consumption in the entire world. And we know that there are ways to allow us to be more efficient and to provide those savings by addressing demand-side solutions. And I think that's where this plan is taking us also.

And also, Representative Polis, I think it's important to note that controlling your destiny when it comes to energy choices, having those American options available, having the production here domestically enhanced, having the efficiency tools that we require, not only utilized that are shelf-ready, but to develop additional product lines that can create these, given opportunities, smart meters in which we invested this year with the stimulus package, with the Recovery Act, are a great way to provide for control over your energy consumption and your bills, to utilize off-peak where possible, and to have a smarter opportunity presented for us as consumers. That's all available with technology today.

And as we further develop these packages that will enable consumers to control their energy destiny, it's a great thing as we develop this American power to power America. It's a wonderful concept.

Absolutely. And, Representative Polis, I would go back to an earlier statement that I made. We're all talking about how we can improve our economy, address our energy crisis, address our environmental crisis, but at the same time, we need to bear in mind that this is the way we draw attention to this Nation and her intellectual capacity, where we become the exporter of energy thinking, of energy ideas, of innovation. This is the strengthening of the economy.

As people invest in this economy, in the American know-how, we then become even stronger as we develop the solutions for our air that we breathe, the water that we drink, and certainly the soil that we utilize for our own opportunities and routine opportunities throughout life. We can then become this go-to nation, which is as critical today, if not more critical, than the space race was in the Sixties, which we won because we committed to thinking in new terms, in bolder terms.

Change is not easy. Change is not easy to get our arms around. But change is what we ought to be about as leaders of legislative policy that can then take this country into new orders of job development and energy policy.

And I will add, if I may, that there are those industries that are energy intensive and trade intensive. And those are the focal points that we can provide where there needs to be this assistance--if you can produce something at less cost, which becomes a reality if you provide energy retrofits that make it more efficient, some of these industries that are energy intensive, when improved upon, where you utilize, as Representative Heinrich said, your resources more wisely and effectively, that produces a lower cost of production of that given product and so it makes you more competitive in the global marketplace.

And Representative Polis, if I might, as we choose to speak to this green energy thinking, our actions, the vision shared with this Nation will percolate into all sorts of layers, even reach our youngest population where in the classroom they may be inspired to move into these careers. We need to encourage that sort of outcome. We need to encourage our more technically sophisticated workers of the future. And it could start as early as the elementary years when they hear the discussion out there--when they don't hear the denial, when they don't have the deception, but when they get the facts brought to them. When they see the potential out there that exists today and that can grow into the future, that can't help but spark the interest.

How many young people were watching the first step on the moon? How many young people then chose to be scientists and engineers to go along that path? Our community colleges that are there as the campus of choice in so many communities, where they can train and retrain a workforce to become those stewards of the environment, that will help us in this agenda to be most energy efficient and to grow R&D opportunities in the lab.

This is a tremendous opportunity to inspire our Nation, to lift us from the doldrums of an energy environment and economic crisis that has really hampered a lot of progress for this country and has denied competitiveness for our manufacturing base.

Representative Polis, I believe that volatility, that unpredictable nature of what we have to pay for this import of oil or gasoline should really drive our thinking. And I firmly believe, with every ounce of my being, that this is the moment for America. This is our moment, a golden opportunity to turn green. And we can grow an economy and really respond to the environment that needs to be nurtured by us, and we can utilize our energy resources in an efficient way by having this American power that will power America. And this is our moment, and we can't walk away from it.

Madam Speaker, New York State American Legion Auxiliary President, Susan M. Britton, has served with distinction during her term in office from July 2008 through July 2009. Mrs. Britton traveled to all 62 counties in the great state of New York, inspiring the members of the American Legion Auxiliary to honor and serve the veterans of New York State.

Susan Briton is a 35 year member of Clarke White Unit 589, American Legion Auxiliary in Albany County. She has remained an active and vital member of the organization, volunteering her services to veterans at the Stratton VA Medical Center in Albany and at the Albany VA Fisher House.

This year Department President Britton has chosen ``Operation Purple'' as her special project. Operation Purple began in 2004 and is sponsored through the National Military Family Association (NMFA). Operation Purple is the only program open to children of personnel from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces (``purple'' representing inclusion of the branches). The program focuses on helping military children deal with the challenges and stress that come with deployment by providing free weeks of summer camp at different locations to bring children together in a fun and healthy environment.

As word has spread about Operation Purple, there is a pressing need for additional support to allow as many children as possible to attend this specialized program. All funds donated will support resident children within New York State. There are two camps, located in Lewis and Orange counties.

Special fundraising projects have been conducted to support Operation Purple, including those by the American Legion Family, which include The American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary, and the Sons of the American Legion. To date, over $60,000 has been raised to provide military children in New York with the opportunity to attend one of these camps.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the resolution before the House sponsored by my very good friend, Representative Louise Slaughter, condemning the senseless killing of Dr. George Tiller.

Dr. Tiller, as we have heard, was gunned down while serving as an usher during church services last week. We are blessed in this country to have the freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom to protest. Our country has a rich history of nonviolent protests from the women's rights movement to the civil rights movement to the gay rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., preached nonviolence, and his great movement heeded this call in the face of unspeakable acts of violence from their opposition.

This shooting is, in the words of the New York State Catholic Conference, a terrible perversion of what it means to be pro-life. While we may have different views of this issue, no side should resort to atrocious acts of violence such as this.

Since 1977, there have been more than 5,800 reported acts of violence against providers like Dr. Tiller. Since 1993, eight people have been murdered, and there have been 17 attempted murders since 1991. Clinics like Dr. Tiller's over a 20-year span have been bombed 41 times and faced 175 arsons and 96 attempted bombings and arsons.

I understand that this is a passionate issue for both sides, but we cannot allow this to continue.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 503) recognizing National Physical Education and Sport Week, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on House Resolution 503 into the Record.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 503, which supports efforts to increase physical activity and participation of youth in sports.

Physical education is necessary in the face of our Nation's growing childhood obesity crisis. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that by 2010, 20 percent of children in the United States will be obese. Without physical education and youth sports, this epidemic would surely be worse than its current situation.

Childhood obesity places a significant burden on our health care system. Overweight adolescents have a 70 to 80 percent chance of becoming overweight adults, a key predictor of chronic disease and disability. The rise in childhood obesity has also been accompanied in the rise of prevalence of type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents.

Teaching children about physical education and sports provides not only physical activity during the typically sedentary school day but also instills in children the importance of physical activity as a way to stay healthy. It is important that we recognize and encourage physical education in our Nation's schools as a necessary component of a holistic education.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to recognize the value of physical education and youth sports. A 2006 survey by the Department of Health and Human Services found that only 3.8 percent of elementary schools, 7.9 percent of middle schools, and 2.1 percent of high schools provide daily physical education or its equivalent for the entire school. Twenty-two percent of schools do not require students to take any physical education. This exists despite research that shows a positive correlation between physical activity and academic performance. In addition, physical activity provides our children with self-esteem and improves their emotional health.

We recognize that our Nation shares a collective responsibility in reversing the trend of childhood obesity. National Physical Education and Sports Week reaffirms the central role that these activities play in encouraging healthy practices for children.

The future of our children's health is an issue that deserves our Nation's utmost attention. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and colleague, Congressman Altmire, for introducing this resolution, and I urge our colleagues to support it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize an outstanding colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Altmire), for 2 minutes.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, does the gentleman from Pennsylvania have any further speakers?

Mr. Speaker, routinely, this Chamber is visited by many young people, by many groups of young people, reminding us that we are in need of promoting and of advancing sound and principled ideas and policies that will be inherited by them, by their generation. They will inherit the good and the bad works that we do, and they will count on us for finding sound and reasonable solutions.

That being said, I believe it's very important for us to advance the opportunity for them to have a sounder environment. They have the right to breathe cleaner air. We have within our grasp the opportunity to reduce that carbon footprint. We have the opportunity to go forward and to cut this pattern of advancing $475 billion annually to foreign economies for fossil-based fuels. We can do better with green solutions, and we can advance House Resolution 503, which allows for us to promote physical education and sports, which will advance the general health and well-being of our students and which will give them stronger academic performance.

I strongly urge our colleagues to support House Resolution 503. I encourage them to vote ``yes'' on Representative Altmire's resolution.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 453) recognizing the significant accomplishments of the AmeriCorps and encouraging all citizens to join in a national effort to salute AmeriCorps members and alumni, and raise awareness about the importance of national and community service.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous materials on House Resolution 453 into the Record.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the substantial contributions that AmeriCorps has made towards national and community service.

AmeriCorps began in 1994 as an effort to engage Americans in the ethic of service and volunteerism. The organization launched following the establishment of the Corporation for National and Community Service under the National and Community Service Trust Act. The initial class of 20,000 volunteers established an immediate tradition of assisting communities across the country. This tradition involves improving the lives of the Nation's most vulnerable citizens, protecting the environment, contributing to public safety, responding to disasters, and strengthening our educational system.

We recognize the real impact that AmeriCorps has and continues to have on our Nation's communities. Since 1994, more than 570,000 individuals have served with the organization. These individuals have tackled some of the Nation's toughest issues, including illiteracy, gang violence, homelessness, and drug abuse. They have worked with thousands of organizations ranging from Habitat for Humanity to the Red Cross. After their terms of service, these members remain engaged in their communities as volunteers, as teachers, and as nonprofit professionals at disproportionately high levels.

In my district, in the capital region of New York State, we have a large AmeriCorps program with the Self Advocacy Association of New York. The AmeriCorps members, all with developmental disabilities, travel around the State, giving presentations--promoting the importance of self-advocacy for people with disabilities, the general awareness of disability-related issues and the importance of full community inclusion of people with disabilities.

This is important work, and I am so pleased we have these volunteers back home in my congressional district. We realize that, as this current economic downturn puts millions of Americans at risk, the need for volunteers and national service will be more important than ever.

The recently signed Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act expands the AmeriCorps program to incorporate some 250,000 volunteers each year. It is important to recognize the commitment of these volunteers so that future generations will continue to support the ideal of national service. The strength of our Nation depends upon individuals who take action towards building better communities.

We observed AmeriCorps Week May 9 through May 16. AmeriCorps Week provides current volunteers, alums, grantees, program partners, and friends with the opportunity to highlight the important work done by this great organization. It is a chance for us to thank those individuals whose service to society cannot be fully measured.

It is also a wonderful opportunity for us to motivate future individuals to pursue the ethic of service, whether in organizations such as AmeriCorps or in the various other service opportunities that exist in our Nation. The ethic of service is a manifestation of the greater ideal of democracy. The AmeriCorps pledge begins: ``I will get things done for America to make our people safer, smarter, and healthier.'' It is important that we recognize that service is a civic duty. Not only do we express gratitude for service, but we express gratitude through service. When we acknowledge the significant accomplishments of AmeriCorps as an organization, we affirm the importance of service as a necessary component of any democracy.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage everyone to take a moment to appreciate the contributions made by AmeriCorps. These volunteers are the muscle of America, and they deserve this recognition.

I want to thank Representative Matsui for bringing this resolution to the floor, and I urge my colleagues to pass this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, if there is a common thread woven through the fabric of volunteers across this great country of ours, it's a sense of positive, a positive spirit, a positive attitude, positive energy going forward and building stronger communities, enhancing the quality of life of American citizens. Their deeds speak to our needs.

So to focus effectively and most positively on the subject at hand, bringing us to House Resolution 453, I will close with my comments focused in great respect for the volunteers of this country, the spirit of this House resolution. I would suggest that they are that muscle of America. They make a total difference. They enhance the quality of life of each and every American, and the recognition of our volunteers through AmeriCorps, the spirit of House Resolution 453, should be recognized and responded to by our colleagues. I would encourage a ``yes'' vote on the resolution.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 411) supporting the goals and ideals of the Intermediate Space Challenge in Mojave, California.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on House Resolution 411 into the Record.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the goals and ideals of the Intermediate Space Challenge in Mojave, California. The Intermediate Space Challenge Program captures children's imaginations as it relates to science, math, space, and experimental learning.

The competition began in response to the Ansari X Prize manned spaceflight contest in 2004, won by Mojave's own SpaceShipOne in 2004. In twin flights from the Mojave Air and Space Port, the spacecraft designed by Burt Rutan took pilots Mike Melvill and Brian Binnie to space and back, claiming a $10 million prize.

Marie Walker originally founded the Intermediate Space Challenge. She coordinated with Stu Witt, Mojave Airport's general manager, and they planned the first challenge in 2004. It has been a great success in the Mojave community. Now in its fifth year, students look forward to the annual competition, with younger students anticipating the time when they are old enough to participate.

The Intermediate Space Challenge hosts a student rocket launch competition, where fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade students compete to build a model rocket that reaches the highest point during launches. Points are awarded on rocket altitude, color, marketing strategy, and spirit. In some cases, the handmade rockets reach up to 600 before parachuting downward.

Individual awards are given in each category, with the overall winner announced at the end of the event. The challenge allows students to work in teams, create a team banner, craft an essay, and develop their small rocket. During the events, many of the students get a chance to view professional rockets and hear how they operate.

The Intermediate Space Challenge fosters great interest in science, in technology, in engineering, and in math among these students and certainly is expected to serve to develop the next great aerospace adventurer of our time.

Mr. Speaker, once again, I express my support for this resolution, and I want to thank Representative McCarthy for bringing this resolution forward. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, does the gentleman from Pennsylvania have any further speakers?

I reserve my time.

Mr. Speaker, does the gentleman from Pennsylvania have any further speakers?

I reserve my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, does the gentleman from Pennsylvania have any further speakers?

Mr. Speaker, decades ago, a global space race inspired all sorts of ingenuity and innovation. It enabled this country to stretch its thinking, provide for lofty opportunities, and emerge with a higher level of status in the global community because it had won that space race.

Providing many, many opportunities, it is indeed the inspiration for today's House Resolution 411, as witnessed through the Intermediate Space Challenge in Mojave, California. Today, we have that same opportunity to stretch our thinking, to provide that loftiness, to be able to emerge with an innovation economy driven by another sort of global race, one called an energy race, which will find the winner to be the exporter of energy innovation, energy thinking, energy ideas, and energy intellect.

And so I think the moves forward by this House can perhaps inspire another

saga of intermediate space challenge. But today we recognize and support the goals and ideals of that great Intermediate Space Challenge through House Resolution 411.

I would encourage our colleagues to support this resolution. It is most meritorious.

I yield back my time, Mr. Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 454) recognizing the 25th anniversary of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Madam Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H. Res. 454.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 454, which recognizes the 25th anniversary of the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children. The NCMEC serves as the national resource center for missing and exploited children.

It is estimated that 800,000 children are reported missing every year in the United States. Two hundred thousand of that number are abducted by family members, and 58,000 are abducted by nonfamily members, for which the primary motive is sexual assault. It is with great sadness that this national tragedy continues year after year.

We recognize today the National Center's persistent efforts in reuniting families and stopping the abuse and exploitation of our children. During its

25-year history, the organization has assisted in the recovery of more than 138,000 children. NCMEC's Amber Alert Program alone has led to 443 recoveries. NCMEC's efforts have led to a rise in the recovery rate of missing children from 62 percent in 1990 to 97 percent today.

The organization offers assistance and training to law enforcement around the country in identifying and locating missing and exploited children, as well as non-compliant sex offenders. NCMEC also actively combats children's pornography by reviewing millions of images and videos in a national effort to identify victims of child pornography and the perpetrators behind these heinous crimes.

Madam Speaker, NCMEC acts as the ultimate advocate for our Nation's most vulnerable individuals. The organization sends a message to parents around the country that our Nation will never abandon its search for the thousands of children missing at any given moment. It is important to recognize that for the individuals at the NCMEC, the mission is never quite complete.

On May 25th of 2009, we recognize the 27th National Missing Children's Day. The day marks the anniversary of the disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz. For nearly three decades, the search for Etan and many other children has continued as part of the persistent efforts of the NCMEC.

Madam Speaker, once again I express my support for the center, and I thank Representative Poe for bringing this resolution to the floor. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Does the gentleman from Pennsylvania have any further speakers?

Madam Speaker, I reserve my time.

Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, the resolution before the House, H. Res. 454, recognizing the 25th Anniversary of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, is one that obviously brings with it many happy endings for at least 138,000 families.

And while not all of the stories are those happy endings, the center has provided itself as a resource, as a network that has devoted itself to the reconnection of our youth to their families. And so, with that outstanding record and with the concerns for missing children still alive and haunting us as a society, I strongly encourage a ``yes'' vote on the resolution.

I yield back my remaining time, Madam Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1380) to establish a grant program for automated external defibrillators in elementary and secondary schools.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on H.R. 1380 into the Record.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1380, the Josh Miller HEARTS Act. This is a bill that my colleague and friend from the neighboring State of Ohio has introduced that will save countless lives at a relatively low cost to taxpayers.

According to the American Heart Association, more than 200,000 Americans die of sudden cardiac arrest each year. Even more disturbing is the fact that 50,000 of these deaths could have been prevented with the use of an automated external defibrillator, or AED.

AEDs are portable devices used to restart the heart after sudden cardiac arrest. Studies have shown that these devices, which are required in Federal buildings and on airplanes, can be safely used by anyone, including children. Defibrillators talk the user through the lifesaving process and do not deliver a shock unless the heartbeat analyzed by the machine is in need of it.

Prompt response to a patient experiencing cardiac arrest is imperative, and waiting for EMS to arrive can be indeed fatal. Utilizing CPR techniques and administering an AED can more than double the victim's chances of surviving. A defibrillator shock is the most effective treatment for sudden cardiac arrest, and heart experts at Johns Hopkins University believe over 500 lives can be saved annually with the widespread placement of AEDs.

The legislation put forward today will go a long way towards saving lives in our Nation's schools. This bill establishes a grant program to place lifesaving defibrillators in every elementary and secondary school that chooses to participate in the program.

Additionally, the law would require recipients of these grants to train school staff in AED and CPR practices, coordinate with local paramedics, and integrate AEDs into existing medical emergency response plans. These provisions will save the lives of students, of teachers, of parents, staff and community members in our American schools. On any given day as much as 20 percent of the community's population passes through its schools, and it is our duty to ensure that these are safe places for our children to learn and for the community members to interact. Since schools are natural meeting places for the public, this bill can save the lives of countless children, teachers, parents and others. Similar legislation passed the House last year; and some States, such as Ohio and New York, are taking a leadership role in making an important difference. As a response to the tragic death of 15-year-old Josh Miller, Ohio instituted a program to place AEDs in schools. Since the inception of the program in 2005, 13 lives have been saved by defibrillators. Similarly, the New York program, in honor of 14-year-old Louis Acompora, has saved 38 lives since 2002.

I want to thank families like those of the Millers and the Acomporas whose hard work has brought national attention to this important issue. They have worked through their grief and, fueled by the tragic loss of a child, have toiled tirelessly to keep other parents from experiencing a similar loss. With passage of this bill, Congress has the opportunity to join these families and prevent future tragedies. Encouraging results and the many lives saved already demonstrates why we must pass this legislation. By putting in place preventative measures like those offered in this bill, we can save more lives.

Mr. Speaker, once again I express my support for H.R. 1380, and I thank Representative Sutton for her dedication to this cause. I urge my colleagues to pass this resolution sponsored by the Member of our House, Representative Sutton.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Sutton) whose thoughtful resolution is before the House for as much time as she may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth) for 3 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, to the point of H.R. 1380, we have heard of the wisdom of making available defibrillators throughout the schools of our great country. It's a natural fit because of the clustering that takes place each and every school day where the need may arise. Obviously a preventative sort of plan like this will help with saving lives and certainly will honor the memory of Josh Miller and Louis Acompora in that hopefully they will not have died in vain, that a measure like this can bring us to a sound bit of policy.

For all those reasons, I would strongly urge our House to support H.R. 1380 and commend Representative Sutton for her outstanding leadership on this issue.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 196) congratulating the University of Tennessee women's basketball team (the ``Lady Vols") and Head Coach Pat Summitt on her 1,000th victory.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on H. Res. 196 into the Record.

I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the University of Tennessee's women's basketball team and Head Coach Pat Summitt on winning her 1,000th NCAA basketball game.

On February 5, 2009, basketball fans witnessed Head Coach Pat Summitt lead her Lady Volunteers to her 1,000th basketball victory. The University of Tennessee easily defeated the University of Georgia 73- 43. This 30-point victory over Georgia not only reflects the Lady Vols' dominance but this victory reflects another milestone in the great Coach Summitt's illustrious career.

Pat Summitt started coaching at the age of 22 and recorded her first win for the Lady Vols on January 10, 1975.

From the moment she started coaching, she excelled in every facet of the game. During her tenure, the Lady Vols have won eight NCAA titles, as well as 27 Southeastern Conference tournament and regular season championships. Tennessee has made an unprecedented 27 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Sweet 16 and produced 12 Olympians, 19 Kodak All-Americans named to 33 teams, and 71 All-SEC performers. Her 1,000- 188 lifetime record leaves basketball fans in complete awe. She has collected more wins than any other NCAA collegiate basketball program, men's or women's.

Coach Summitt garnered a multitude of awards. The NCAA recognized her great success by awarding Summitt with seven Southeastern Coach of the Year awards and seven NCAA Coach of the Year awards. Coach Summitt and the Lady Volunteers have left a legacy of greatness that will certainly place them in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Along with her success on the court, Summitt's student athletes have had tremendous productivity in the classroom. Coach Summitt has a 100 percent graduation rate for all Lady Vols who have completed their eligibility at Tennessee. She still considers the academic success of her athletes as one of her greatest accomplishments.

While Coach Summitt and the Lady Vols produced remarkable success, congratulations also go to the assistant coaches, the fans, the alumni, and students for their unyielding support and contributions.

Once again, I congratulate Coach Summitt and the Lady Vols for their unprecedented success. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congressman Duncan for bringing this resolution forward, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is most obvious that Coach Summitt and the Lady Vols have set basketball history with more than five times the number of wins in relation to the number of losses. And while they have excelled on the basketball court, it is important to note that they have also excelled in the classroom. And so for those records, both athletically and academically, and for the great career to date of Coach Summitt, we acknowledge that this is a very worthy resolution and that H. Res. 196 should be supported in the House, Mr. Speaker.

I yield back my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 232) recognizing and commending the Toys for Tots Literacy Program for its contributions in raising awareness of illiteracy, promoting children's literacy, and fighting poverty through the support of literacy.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on H. Res. 232 into the Record.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 232, a resolution to recognize and commend the Toys for Tots Literacy Program for its contributions in raising awareness of illiteracy, promoting children's literacy, and fighting poverty through the support of literacy.

For more than 60 years, Toys for Tots has been bringing smiles to the faces of less fortunate children through the gift of a new toy. After supporting Toys for Tots since 2005 and raising some $1.3 million to help brighten the lives of thousands of children nationwide, the UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. network launched the Toys for Tots Literacy Program in March 2008 to expand upon its existing partnership and to serve as an example of what small businesses can do to help their community.

The Toys for Tots Literacy Program stands by its mission of offering the Nation's most economically disadvantaged children the ability to compete academically and to succeed in life by providing them direct access to resources that enhance their ability to read and to communicate effectively. By providing less fortunate children with tools that will help them break the cycle of poverty, Toys for Tots maintains its initiative of delivering hope while extending its reach and impact in a very meaningful way.

This outstanding program has touched the lives of many since every $1 donation helps the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation buy a book for a deserving child within the community where it was donated. Since its creation in March of 2008, more than $800,000 has been raised for the literacy program through a variety of activities, including donation card campaigns, coin box collections, special events, and sponsorships. This equates to more than 800,000 books being delivered to children across our Nation.

Given the estimate that in low-income neighborhoods the ratio of books per child is one age-appropriate book for every 300 children, this program not only brings children the joy of reading, but also serves as an important tool in breaking that cycle of poverty.

Mr. Speaker, this resolution serves to commend the Toys for Tots Literacy Program for its outstanding efforts in raising awareness of illiteracy and fighting poverty by promoting literacy. And I thank my colleague, Representative Graves, for introducing this resolution.

I urge my colleagues to resoundingly pass this resolution, Mr. Speaker, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, obviously the literacy issue is one of great significance to all age demographics out there. However, if we can create a program such as Toys for Tots whereby we combat illiteracy and raise awareness of the importance of literacy and allow for us to conquer poverty at the same time, we can accomplish many, many good things in the lives of children.

I thank Representative Graves for having introduced House Resolution 232. Again, I strongly encourage our colleagues to support the measure before the House.

I yield back my time, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1662) to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to require child care providers to provide to parents information regarding whether such providers carry current liability insurance.

Mr. Speaker, I request 5 legislative days during which Members may revise and extend and insert extraneous material on H.R. 1662 into the Record.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1662, which amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to require child care providers to provide information regarding whether such providers carry current liability insurance. Working parents depend on child care so they can earn an income needed to support their families, as well as ensure that their children are well cared for in a safe environment while they are working. As such, child care is an integral part of the daily routine for millions of American families with young children.

Nearly 12 million children under 5 years of age are regularly in child care settings. Research clearly shows us that high quality child care has a lasting impact on a child's development and well-being. Children in poor quality child care miss a crucial early learning opportunity and are more likely to arrive at kindergarten unprepared and unable to succeed in school. As a country, we need to be doing much more to invest in and support high quality child care programs so that children have the best opportunity to develop.

Back in 2001, Anthony DeJuan Boatwright's mother, Jacqueline Boatwright, placed her child in child care so that she could work to improve her and her son's life. She understood the child care program market. She shopped around and found a child care center. It was licensed by the State. It was clean, and it complied with Federal regulations under the Child Care Development Block Grant Act governing such items as the prevention and control of infectious diseases, building safety, premises access, and safety training for staff. However, little Anthony nearly drowned and ended up on life support due to an oversight at the child day care center.

Jackie Boatwright did not know that a child care program could take her money, harm her child, and escape punishment for their dire mistake.

Because the childcare center had no liability insurance, the facility could not be financially responsible for any harm they could do. There wasn't a law, State or Federal, that required childcare centers to tell Ms. Boatwright either.

The bill before us makes a small but, indeed, important amendment to current law. This bill would require each provider to openly post whether or not they have current liability insurance covering the operation of the childcare business, and it requires each provider to supply parents with a written notice stating whether or not the provider carries liability insurance, including the amount of such coverage.

This legislation does not supersede any State regulations regarding facility licensure or insurance requirements. We are simply asking childcare providers to inform parents whether or not they hold liability insurance.

As we move forward reauthorizing this program, we must consider policies that foster effective learning environments where children can obtain the cognitive, the social and the academic skills needed to succeed. And we must make sure that parents can feel secure in the knowledge that their children will be safe from harm while out of their care.

This bill gives parents more information that they need to make educated decisions about daycare facilities. We must provide safe childcare programs for our children.

I thank Representative Barrow for introducing this bill, and ask my colleagues to support the measure.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize the gentleman from Georgia, sponsor of H.R. 1662, a very thoughtful piece for the children of this country, Mr. Barrow, for as much time as he may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from the State of Georgia, Representative Barrow, for introducing H.R. 1662.

Obviously, childcare decisions are major decisions for any family. And in addition to those cognitive and social and educational skills that are invested in our children, the sense of security and comfort that needs to be afforded the families who participate in these wonderful resources needs to be enhanced. And by simply and rightfully asking childcare providers to inform parents whether or not they hold liability insurance is a strengthener for any family and any children in our country.

So, with all that being said, I strongly encourage our colleagues to support H.R. 1662.

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

Mr. Speaker, this evening we have an opportunity as members of the freshman class, Democratic members, to speak during an hour designated for our class members. Tonight is the second time our class has spoken as a group, and as you recognize, we are a diverse group of members who come from all sections and regions of the country and do share some common fabric but also would identify differences. But one thing very certainly in common that we share is the need to move forward with a positive direction on energy policy that will spark an innovation economy, Mr. Speaker.

And so this evening during this opportunity we will hear from my colleagues in our freshman class that will speak to their concerns and the optimism we share about growing an innovation economy based on energy policy that can transform just how we deal with those resources, how we create our generated power that we require, how we transmit that power, and certainly how we can effectuate conservation and efficiency programs that will strengthen our outcome.

As you know, I have spent much of my life with energy policy. My professional life found me working in the State Assembly in New York chairing the Energy Committee for some 15 years, and then I moved on to become president and CEO of NYSERTA, the New York State Energy, Research and Development Authority.

It was there that I recognized that through the program implementation we had encouraged through public policy formation that we were able to effectuate tremendously strong impacts, positive impacts on the business community and on the residential community, making certain that as we embraced efficiency efforts we could address that demand side of the equation, which has been, from a Federal perspective, not really addressed effectively at all.

And so now we find ourselves with leadership in the White House and certainly here in the House that wants to move forward and make certain that we advance sound energy policy. It is important for us to do that in a way that maintains an open mind to developing the sort of policy that needs to be crafted, policy that will speak to those innovative ideas, and projects that will find us investing in research, in development, in deployment, in engineering, in developing a green- collar workforce, all of which will create an array of jobs that are not yet on that radar screen, that will allow us to produce outcomes that are favorable to this country's economy.

And certainly as we do that, we will need to update and upgrade our transmission grid, our delivery system, which was designed for regulatory response rather than free-wheeling electrons from different regions and sections of the country, or to even imports from our neighbor to the north in Canada with hydropower that has been done in some situations. We need to make certain that we address both supply- side and demand-side solutions. For far too long, we're increasing supply but not looking at that opportunity to create here in America those needs that are addressed by American-produced power that obviously would strengthen our economy and our job situation.

It allows us to also move forward to create a more clean and more sustainable environment which needs to be a goal that is embraced by the policy that we'll formulate.

You know, Mr. Speaker, it has been said often that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Well, there are multiple crises that this President inherited, he and his administration. Certainly the House, as a leadership, is addressing those crises that have been passed on here to not only legislators and policymakers and executives but to the American public where we struggle with situations that for far too long have gone unaddressed.

You know, I liken this to the space race that we had decades ago, where this country came behind its leadership, where President Kennedy indicated that we could place a person on the Moon, where he boldly expressed that vision, and we were able to go forward and invest in science and technology. Sputnik was mentioned in every classroom. There was a race going on, and it was important for us to win that race.

The same can be said today with the global race that exists out there for some Nation to emerge as that go-to Nation that will export the energy intellect and the energy innovation and ideas that will transform not only our economy but the worldwide use and the worldwide response to energy needs and energy solutions. We can win that race but we need to invest. We need to open up with new policy, and we need to commit to resources that are essential.

We are doing that today as we talk about the transformation to an innovation economy, and as we look at some of the situations that we have with the power that is addressed by foreign oil imports, noting that nearly 67 percent of our oil is imported from foreign supplies, from foreign countries, that is finding we're spending some $475 billion that is shipped overseas. People will talk about different economic impacts or concerns or fears that they try to forecast and project, when in fact we need only to look at history to see what's been happening with the hundreds of billions that are invested in foreign economies and an overwhelming, near two-thirds, of our supply for oil being imported from foreign countries.

This should tell us something. It should tell us that there are opportunities to create jobs to go forward and

produce American-based power and to address jobs through energy efficiency and conservation efforts, through research and development, to develop those prototypes to make certain they're deployed into the manufacturing sector and that we can grow this richness of economy and also export these ideas and this invention to other world economies across the globe.

My colleague and friend from our freshman class--and I've grown to respect each and every one of my freshmen colleagues, but one who has expressed a very strong concern about jobs, job creation, job retention is Mark Schauer from the State of Michigan, from the seventh, I believe, district in Michigan. Representative Schauer is very concerned about jobs, and I believe Mark sees this as a way to address that job situation.

Thank you, Representative Schauer. You're absolutely right on with the need for job creation. The facts are there that really speak to us so forcefully because, as you indicated, we can better control our destiny simply by focusing on job creation that is American based. That we can better control our destiny with the environment by moving to cleaner outcomes, by having automobiles that burn more effectively, more efficiently, and cleaner.

Now, it's said that if we produce 25 percent of our electricity and our motor fuels by renewables--by moving to renewables to that 25 percent level by 2025, we can create 5 million jobs here in this country. So it really behooves us to move forward and advance a situation that will find us investing in jobs in manufacturing, in engineering, certainly in transportation, as we can move forward and really effectuate the source of investments and changes that will really produce a strong economic outcome for us here in this Nation. And it's not whether or not we have the luxury to make that decision. As we speak, China invests $12.6 million per hour in greening up their economy.

Going back to the space race of decades ago inspired by JFK and others, we have President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, leadership in the House, the conference, the caucus, the membership here, the majority in this House advancing an effort to really produce jobs to clean up the environment and create a situation that not only address a stronger sense of energy security and energy independence, but also a national security factor that is thereby strengthened simply by growing our energy independence and our energy security because our reliance on some of the most troubled spots in the world finds us in the middle of conflicts, as we see today.

One of our other freshman class members who is equally passionate about change and reform, who was also a student of history, checks into these situations of cleaning up our environment and producing jobs, Representative Connolly from the great Commonwealth of Virginia, from the Congressional District 11 in that State, is with us this evening also.

Representative Connolly.

Thank you, Representative Connolly. You know, it's just so good to revisit recent past history as we look at just what the results of some of that progressive policy formation was about. And it did have a positive effect on our environment and it did create jobs and it did address in sound economic terms a stronger future.

So we seem to be at a threshold, again, that needs to be inspired. We need to be inspired by that history that perhaps was expressed and touted in some measures of fear when in fact science and technology led us through some very difficult challenges and we responded by creating jobs and responding favorably to the environment

that we share and maintain for coming generations.

Well, with carbon capture and reducing the carbon impact into our environment by having a comprehensive energy plan, by putting together a cap-and-invest program, we're able to address greenhouse gas pollution in a way that can be addressed from both sides of the energy equation, and from all sectors, including transportation. And the energy generation, more efficient transmission, where we can use superconductive cable, where there's less line lost, making it more efficient and a conservative thing to do.

To be able to move forward with diversifying our energy mix with kinetic hydropower and what it has to offer; with geothermal and what it has to offer; with the inclusion of renewables--using our wind, our Sun, our Earth to respond to our energy needs. And then, on the flip side, on the demand side, conservation and energy efficiency, where we use shelf-ready products to retrofit systems, make manufacturing more productive and efficient, saving them money in the line of producing their products.

All of this is saving jobs and creating jobs. Taking those white- and blue-collar traditional jobs, implementing the newly created green collar jobs, of which we need to speak, and really producing, I believe, that innovation economy that pulls us into a new order of thinking for energy's sake and really stakes a claim here in a Nation that has invested for a long time in R&D.

But we need now to go beyond those prototypes. We need to deploy into manufacturing and deploy into commercial sector use these great ideas that are, by the way, being picked up by emerging nations and they're using American know-how.

I believe those huge costs are there, that inaction that came through the prior administration found the American households, American families on average spending $1,100 more because of their dependence on gas, oil, electricity and what have you.

Just looking at this chart, which is portraying a rise in the importation of crude oil, finds us peaking in the last several years where we're now near 3.7 trillion barrels of crude oil that are running our economy, degrading our environment and finding us without any sort of clever progressive agenda that really is within our grasp. Again, it translates into the concerns that you expressed here this evening, Representative Connolly and Representative Schauer. And we're going to hear from another of our freshman colleagues who has been on this mantra of energy transformation that equates to job growth, job retention and innovation that we can reach to with the American know- how, the brain trust, the intellectual capacity that we have as a Nation.

Our colleague from New Mexico's Third Congressional District is Representative Lujan. Representative Lujan, you also have great knowledge and experience. You add to that array of diversity within the freshman class, in the Democratic Caucus that sees it from a regulatory perspective, but you also are there talking about the need for jobs, jobs in your State, in your district, in our American economy.

It's great to yield to you, Representative Lujan.

Representative Lujan, well said. Whoever, whichever country emerges from this race for energy innovation will become that go-to nation. And what a chance we have out there to really create a new era of job creation and to strengthen our economy nationally and to export talent in a way that will strengthen every region of this country. It's about that job growth. It's about job retention and, more importantly, job creation, embracing that investment that we have made through academia, that we have made through the private sector R&D components.

Just recently I was with the GE leadership as they announced the plans to build an advanced battery manufacturing center in Upstate New York, and they're doing that with a commitment to a battery type that can be used for heavy vehicles, that can be used for energy generation and for intermittent energy storage. That then takes us to a whole new area of opportunity, a key that unlocks the doors to vast potential that then can transition this whole way that we respond to our energy needs and create jobs at the same time.

Let me yield to Representative Schauer because I know, again, his real passion here for his State of Michigan, his home State, is to talk about those jobs that we can create.

It was a pleasure.

Representative Schauer, you said it well. It is the transitioning, that we need to transform that economy into ways that can assume some of those gaps that have not been addressed. I know, coming from a State that I will talk about in a while, about the investments we've made in our region. It was without that sort of broader comprehensive plan coming from the Federal level. I think while we are a diverse freshman class, and we cover the map of the U.S. rather well as a new class, even amongst our diversity, there is that common thread that we understand, that the American public stated clearly through the election. We want change. We want reform. We want production. We want productivity, and we want things to happen. And these are the things that can happen to the very good.

To the freshman Member, Representative Connolly, you are coming from a State that, obviously, is a large State, that hears the issues that are expressed out there. And you've been a very strong and forceful voice on behalf of reform and change. Your perspective again on job growth?

Most assuredly, Representative Connolly. And you speak of the impact that Germany is making with perhaps lesser solar hours available to their situation. While at NYSERDA, at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, at I believe our third conference on green collar workforce development, we were visited by representatives from 33 States and four nations, including Germany. They talked about the particular niche they were creating for plumbers in Germany to do hot water solar arrays where you could address those hot water needs through solar panels.

We know also, through the stimulus package, the opportunity to shave that priceyness from solar activity PV by thin film advancements along with the intermittent battery storage issues. So there is great potential out there that is yet untapped, or undertapped, that should motivate us, should challenge us to really move forward with a comprehensive plan that is well structured, that deals with carbon capture, that mentions both the supply and demand side of the equation, and to go forward in a way that structures and implements the policy that then shows sound leadership. That is what we are looking at here. We have a President who gets it, a President who talks about innovation, who talks in a way that will allow us to be creative and put the academic notions of this society to work. That, to me, is tremendously strong. The expression of innovative ideas can really inspire our Nation.

The Speaker, the leadership of this House and the membership of this House is there ready to move forward to progressive outcomes. And that, I think, speaks to sounder environmental outcomes, sounder economic outcomes and a stronger energy policy, crises that are addressed in one fell swoop of activity with public policy.

Representative Lujan, you have joined us this evening, for which we are most grateful. You have a regulatory aspect that you have borne before your involvement here in Congress, which is always helpful. But you also seem to have that tremendous passion for thinking outside the barrel, if you will, in a way that will reduce that gluttonous dependency of this society and this economy on foreign imported oil.

Mr. Connolly, this chart says it all, what you're raising as a very strong concern. Somehow there is a willingness to spend, export $475 billion out of the U.S.

When you think about the impact that has on our economy, the jobs that could be created if we relied on American-produced power, if we put American brain trusts to work, what couldn't happen? Might we not see this as a tax, a situation that finds us dealing with a dreadful blow to our economy and impacting in strong negative measure our environment which we borrow and need to send on to the next generation in even cleaner format?

So when I look at the small microcosm of the country expressed by the 21st Congressional District in New York, I see so many opportunities that require that overlay of energy policy and energy resources from a Federal perspective. And that is why the President and the leadership in the House, the Speaker and our Chairs and our rank-and-file Members are to be encouraged, I believe, to move forward on this matter.

We have, within the 21st New York Congressional District, semiconductor investments, nanoscience investments, emerging technologies all on a green campus, R&D investment centers through General Electric's emerging wind institute that will also embrace other renewables with their ecomagination situation and private and public sector campuses that are investing in R&D. We have superpower which is breaking its own record in superconducted cable development that can be used to transmit far more electrons over similarly sized traditional cable.

So all of this is there as an undercurrent, an underpinning of support that can then blossom into its fullest potential if we allow for policy to take hold. And that is what the moment is about and leadership expressed in the greatest, boldest green upturns.

Thank you, Representative Lujan and Representative Connolly.

Representative Schauer, we are going to let you close our hour here because we are running out of time.

Thank you so much to my colleagues from the freshman class, Mr. Speaker. I yield back the remainder of our time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The crises facing our government and our country are broad in range. We are faced with an energy crisis, an economic crisis, an environmental crisis and certainly an unemployment crisis. President Obama, in his boldness of vision throughout the campaign for President and certainly in the infancy stages of his presidency, has made it very clear that he wants to deliver to the American public this new vision of how to resolve many of these crises in one fell swoop. It is important to recognize that we, as an American economy, are heavily dependent upon fossil-based fuels. It is important for us to recognize that some 60 percent of the oil on which we depend is imported from some of the most troubled spots in the world. We move forward here as we try to resolve our crises in a way that's creative and innovative and inspiring. It will require consumer behavioral change, and it will require investments. It will require policy formats that will break from traditional dependency on fossil-based fuels and allow us to move forward in a way that addresses green jobs for a green economy, American-produced power to run our factories, our farms, our homes, the institutions that are important to us.

When we look at the opportunities, there are many. There are projections that some 5 million additional clean energy jobs could be created if just 25 percent of our electricity and our vehicle fuels are produced from renewable resources by the year 2025. That's a staggering statistic. Those are dollars that, when invested, will produce these 5 million jobs that will allow us to grow a cleaner environment, address favorably the carbon footprint and respond to the pressures of global warming. It allows us also to embrace the intellect of this Nation, that intellectual capacity represented through our many academic centers and our private sector R&D centers, which are tools that can really retrofit this economy, that can allow us to grow in ways that are measured in green terms for jobs and green opportunities for energy supplies.

Now we know that the unemployment rate, which was inherited by this administration, which has grown and is going to be resolved, we believe, with several reforms, is something that can be addressed through those sorts of jobs that are not yet on the radar screen. We need to also think of international competition. If I could, I would take this discussion back decades where many of us as youngsters, perhaps in an elementary classroom setting, heard about the race, the race for Sputnik. We were certain that math and science was important in that classroom and that this competitive race, this international race had to be won by the United States because it was going to set in the forefront, it was going to make the premier nation that nation that won that race.

Well, we know what history dictated via investments on the space race and putting a man on the Moon and creating technology that really inspired job growth and really pumped this economy to a high level. That same sort of situation decades later now is existing in terms of a competitive race to be the energy nation, the nation that will export the intellect and the ideas and the innovation in a way that will be a masterful response to the several crises that we try to resolve. We can do that by emerging the winner in this race.

When we look at the fact that China is now the number one producer of solar panels in the world, that should challenge our thinking and our response as a government. When we think of the fact that Germany's number two export, after automobiles, is that of wind turbines, that should challenge and inspire us. And when we think of the fact that only six of the top 30 solar wind and advanced battery manufacturers are American-owned, that should inspire us.

I will now yield to my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from New York, Representative Massa, who is a strong and outspoken voice on energy reform, on green jobs, on a green economy. He has a message that he'll share this evening.

Thank you. I reclaim the time, Mr. Speaker.

I, with curiosity, listened to Representative Massa from New York. As a fellow colleague from New York State, I think of the impacts we can make in just New York alone. And when we then extrapolate that over the map of the United States, what a powerful statement.

He's right, that with this grip on our economy that was allowed to grow just through the Presidential tenure of President Bush, $1,100 more per year was demanded of our American families for that dependency on oil, gas and electricity. We can go forward and inspire this green innovation of an economy. The green thinking that we can embrace can allow dollar for dollar to be a much more lucrative outcome. Four times as many jobs, would be created.

Sure. Sure.

I couldn't agree more. And all while we speak, we need to recognize that China is investing $12.6 million in its economy for green energy technology every hour. Now, that is a challenge to us. We can stand still and watch the emerging powers of energy out there as a nation, be it China or Japan or India or you name the country, or we can make a plan and implement a plan and move forward accordingly.

The President understands this is so critical to resolving so many of the crises we mentioned earlier. Speaker Pelosi and the leadership of this House, Energy and Commerce Chair Waxman, Ways and Means Chair Charlie Rangel, and many, many other leaders who are making their voices heard and helping construct the right outcome here.

The jobs of which my colleague and friend, Representative Massa, just made mention, offer four times greater job creation than an investment, dollar for dollar, in oil and gas. And we certainly in New York State, as colleagues from that New York delegation, can attest to the projections that are made for the New York economy, over 130,000, nearly 132,000 clean energy jobs at a time when our unemployment statistics are perhaps beyond 8 percent. We can see flowing into the New York State economy as much as $20 billion. And our taxpayers in New York State pay some $2.8 billion, it is calculated, to pay subsidies for big oil companies, and certainly those gasoline corporations out there that are draining our economy. We hear this discussion about, it is a tax, it is a tax that is coming, that is befalling. Well, $400 billion is the savings, that is a tax, call it whatever you want, that we are paying now to Venezuela and Middle East countries for every annual installment that we make in foreign energy imports. That is a huge price tag that could be avoided.

When we look at the potential out there in R&D investment that could be part of this great energy resource, it is limitless in terms of our academic institutions and our private sector partnerships out there. We can make this happen. We need to be innovative. We need to think outside the barrel. And we need to move forward in a progressive fashion.

I yield to my colleague from New York, Eric Massa. I yield to you, sir, to continue the discussion.

Thank you to the Representative from New York, Representative Massa.

Let me reclaim my time, Mr. Speaker. We have heard all of this talk about innovation economy. We have heard about the gluttonous dependency we have as a Nation on energy, in this case, fossil-based fuels, 60 percent of that need being met by imports from some of the most troubled spots in the world. We cannot continue along this dangerous path. It is a rocky road that needs to be addressed.

The approach, I believe, comes from an investment in American jobs, a green jobs agenda, growing a green energy transition that allows us to inspire an innovation economy. We do that with investments in R&D. While I served as president and CEO at NYSERDA, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, I saw first hand up close and personal just how it happened. We invested in R&D. Not every one of those investments might be a success story, but the prototypes that are developed and funded then need to be addressed through additional funding that deploys that investment, that magic in the research lab, into deployment into manufacturing and then into the commercial sector, utilizing these shelf-ready opportunities that are the emerging technologies to respond to the needs of retrofitting energy efficiency mechanisms into our businesses, our factories, our industries, our farms and our homes. That potential exists today. It is underutilized. We need to see energy efficiency as our fuel of choice. We need to address it just like we would any other source of fuel, to use it as we would mine coal or drill for oil, we need to mine and drill energy efficiency as that outcome that will address the demand side of the equation. Both supply and demand need to be addressed by this innovation economy.

I believe that through the leadership of the President and certainly Speaker Pelosi and others that I have made mention of, we can go forward with the soundness of an agenda that will really spark the kind of creative genius that speaks to the pioneer spirit that has always existed in this country. We need just to formulate the concepts that will take us there.

Just recently at GE's R&D center in Schenectady County, New York, GE announced its intentions to now move to an advanced battery technology that will create somewhere between 350 and 400 manufacturing jobs that will be the key that unlocks the doors to golden opportunity, or perhaps green opportunity. The battery situation, whether it is applied to transportation, transportation of light vehicles or heavy vehicles, energy, energy generation, energy storage for intermittent purposes or with transmission improvements that are being addressed by SuperPower in Schenectady County again, these are the formula outcomes that we need to promote and encourage.

We can do it. We have this skill set to do it as a Nation. We need to invest in green collar job opportunities. We need to invest in R&D making certain that research and development is part of that energy comeback. And we need to change our behavior in a way that will produce this new golden opportunity for New Yorkers, in my case, and for Americans across the board. We do have that potential, the immense potential.

I saw also what happened when we applied these retrofits for energy purposes, energy efficiency at dairy farms, first in a demonstration project and then across the board to some 70 farms where, as dairy farms, they are dealing with a perishable product. And where they are dealing with ebbs and flows of energy need, they cannot necessarily because of mother nature demands and dealing with off-peak situations. They can't cleverly quite construct that outcome. But what they can do is utilize the resources of energy efficiency which was done through these demonstrations. And it was a success because a great deal of savings, 35 to 45 percent, was made available for these farms simply by addressing their demand through energy retrofits that were done in partnership with the local utility, with the staff from Cornell University, with the staff from NYSERDA and certainly with groups working as ESCOs, the Energy Services Companies, that were helping in this effort to change things at these given dairy farms. The result was remarkably strong.

That is the sort of real-life experience that we ought to apply to our policy creation and innovation and to our resource dedication that comes through the budgets that we will deal with here in Washington. It is a great opportunity for us to respond in an innovative way, responding to challenges of several crises out there and allowing us to emerge very strong in that outcome.

So it is about green power. It is about green jobs. It is about Americans producing for their needs, and it is allowing our industries to be all the more prosperous and all the more productive simply because we have given them a break in the energy area.

So with all of that being said, I encourage us to look strongly at the opportunities that exist today in this given Chamber that will allow us to go forward in progressive fashion. And we will be able to look back and say that this was the generation that provided that response that ignited this new energy thinking that really turned around the American economy and has helped save the environment in a way that was immeasurably important to coming generations.