Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014

Floor Speech

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Mr. COHEN. My amendment, which is worthy of being considered and passed, but not necessarily to be heard, would re-appropriate $50 million from the Weapons Activities account to the Renewable Energy, Energy Reliability, and Efficiency account, kind of a compromise about what we've been hearing. It doesn't take too much from nuclear. It gives some back to solar. It's a compromise where we work together.

In this bill, the Weapons Activities account, which had been funded at $7.7 billion, that's more than $190 million over the President's request, and over $95 million more than the account had in 2013. And to offset this increase, which the committee voted, the committee decided to do so by funding the Renewable Energy, Energy Reliability and Efficiency account at only $982 million, slashing that account by almost 50 percent in this budget.

While ensuring the security of the United States is certainly very, very important, the consequences of ignoring climate change trends and data is resulting in a serious and ever-growing threat right here on our own soil.

I know that the goal of everybody here in the House is energy independence, and it's a paramount concern to all of us. However, in order to achieve this goal, we must dedicate ourselves and our budget to the serious business of securing that energy future.

Ensuring that our renewable energy research program is adequately funded is one of the most effective and climate-neutral ways to achieve this goal. For example, solar power is the most abundant energy resource available to the planet, and demand for solar power in the United States is at an all-time high.

As solar prices continue to fall, Americans are reassessing their energy resources. Cutting funding to projects that make this clean energy even more affordable is not prudent, and out of line with the priorities of clean-energy minded Americans.

Renewable energy is secure and domestic, and energy-efficient programs not only result in greater resource supplies but savings for families and businesses alike.

According to the Alliance to Save Energy, the President's climate plan to double domestic energy production by utilizing methods like renewable energy could save the average family household more than $1,000 every year on energy bills.

Investing in renewable energy will result in safer domestic energy, job creation in the clean energy sector, and lower heating and cooling bills across the country.

For these reasons and others, and in the best interest of our Nation's energy security, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this amendment. I would ask you to spend money on finding research to see ways we can come up with renewable energy and improve the savings, and save about the future, save it and yet not cut too much from the nuclear program, which we already have funded higher than the President requested or last year.

I would ask for a ``yes'' vote on this amendment, a compromise amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. COHEN. We've had these discussions. We've got enough money in nuclear weapons to destroy the world thousands and thousands and thousands of times. And I understand defense, but I also understand the future. And the future is energy self-reliance. And that comes from the Sun. It's not going to be taken out of the Earth. It's going to come from the solar energy that God has given us to harness and use for mankind.

So the amendment, in my opinion, is a sound amendment and budgetary use. But even more so--and it's getting off the path--the reality is the distinguished gentleman made his remarks and said there's nothing more important than our Defense Department. I submit to you that we're cutting $1.6 billion from the National Institutes of Health. That's my defense department and your defense department and everybody else's defense department. Because cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and AIDS, that's the enemy that's going to get each one of us. And we're cutting $1.6 from NIH, which is our defense department.

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