SHAHEEN CALLS FOR VOTE ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY LEGISLATION

(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) spoke on the Senate floor today to urge Senate leadership to bring forward her bipartisan energy efficiency legislation, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act. Shaheen filed her bill as an amendment to the Bring Jobs Home Act, which was under consideration by the Senate today.

Shaheen’s bill, introduced with Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), would help businesses create jobs and save consumers money by establishing a national energy efficiency strategy.  The bill passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with strong bipartisan support by a vote of 18 to 3 and has been endorsed by a wide coalition of businesses and advocacy groups.

Below are Shaheen’s remarks, as prepared for delivery:

Mr. President, today the Senate is considering legislation to end tax breaks included within our own Internal Revenue Code that actually help companies that are shipping American jobs overseas.  The bill also provides a tax credit to encourage companies to move jobs to the United States.

Offshoring of American jobs has hurt the middle class, and it continues to be a real problem.

There’s no good reason we should continue giving companies an incentive to offshore good American jobs.

We can also help address high unemployment by encouraging companies to bring jobs back to the United States, and the tax credit in this bill will help reverse the trend and put Americans back to work.

In fact, this incentive could help bring two to three million jobs back to the U.S.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

I’d like to take a few moments to talk about another way for Congress to work together in a bipartisan way to create jobs and help the economy.

The amendment I filed today along with Senator Portman to the Bring Jobs Home Act provides us with a great opportunity to create jobs in America.

 This amendment is the text of S.1000, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, a bipartisan bill that will create a national energy efficiency strategy for the United States.

 Energy efficiency is the cheapest and fastest approach available to improving our nation’s energy infrastructure and our economy’s energy independence.

 Our bill will create jobs for our workers, lower energy costs for consumers and make our businesses more competitive.

In fact, a recent study by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) concluded that our bill would create almost 80,000 jobs and would save consumers $4 billion by 2020.

 S.1000 has broad support on both sides of the aisle, passing out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with an 18-3 vote. 

In addition, a large and diverse group of industry, energy efficiency and environmentalist stakeholders have endorsed the bill, including the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Alliance to Save Energy, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Best Buy, the Environmental Defense Fund.

This legislation contains a broad package of low-cost and effective tools to reduce barriers for businesses, homeowners, and consumers who want to adopt off-the-shelf technologies that will save them money.

It’s an easy first step that will make our economy more competitive and our nation more secure while meeting pent-up demand for these energy savings technologies from individuals and businesses alike.

The American public is desperately looking for Congress to work in a bipartisan manner on policies that will spur growth and create jobs. 

Energy efficiency legislation represents our best chance to achieve both of those goals this year.

We can get a national energy efficiency policy in place—one that enhances our national security, addresses our energy needs, and gets Americans back to work. And we can do it in this Congress.  So let’s bring the Shaheen-Portman energy bill to the Senate floor for a vote.