During debate on the House floor, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) introduced an amendment to HR 8997.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Mr. Speaker, today I raise in favor of my amendment, number 62.
00:05It would prohibit funds from being used for the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations
00:10within the Department of Energy.
00:12And I know that sounds like a wonderful title, and you think, what could be wrong with that?
00:17But I'm going to explain to you, Mr. Speaker, what is wrong with it.
00:21This Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations is going to have an equitable energy transition.
00:28And let's talk about in real words what that means.
00:31It means that Americans who don't want this are going to be forced to have it, this transition,
00:38and they're going to be forced in spending their taxpayer dollars for it.
00:42And I'll tell you what Americans are tired of.
00:45They're tired of being told what to do by politicians and those in certain positions
00:50of power.
00:51But I think we forget sometimes that Americans don't work for us.
00:57The politicians, the Congress, the members of Congress, the members of the Senate, and
01:02the President of the United States works for them, but so often we forget that.
01:07And what does this all mean, what this department does, what this group of people that supposedly
01:12know so much?
01:13It means less reliable energy.
01:16It means continued higher energy prices.
01:19It means less energy independence.
01:22Many of the technologies that this office uses and advocate on rely on countries, particularly
01:28China, a country, China, with a track record of human rights violations such as what goes
01:38on in the Congo.
01:39And I want everybody to listen to this, where modern-day slavery is in effect forcing hundreds
01:46of thousands of Africans to work in sub-human conditions in order to mine the cobalt needed
01:53for electric vehicles.
01:55How wrong is that?
01:56While we're driving around in our fancy electric vehicles, mostly wealthier folks, these people
02:02are scratching the dirt to try to just survive.
02:07And we think that's a good thing.
02:09That's not the American way.
02:11It's also important to note, even if you do believe in it, that America has these resources
02:16and it's quite blessed with earth minerals.
02:20But this administration continues to prevent our ability to actually mine them so that
02:25we depend on China more than ever.
02:28You couldn't make this stuff up.
02:30You can't believe it, but it's true.
02:33And it forces us to purchase it from China.
02:35So it's unfair.
02:37It's unethical.
02:38And I would maintain it is un-American to continue forcing to pay this money, to continue
02:44forcing taxpayers to subsidize it, continue to force Americans to have this shoved down
02:50their throat when they don't want it.
02:53We need to end the subsidization of clean energy in this form.
02:59Let the marketplace take effect.
03:01Let's have the competition.
03:02Let's see if nuclear is the best.
03:04Let's see if we can really build and supply more solar panels in the United States of
03:09America, but not rely on other countries.
03:13Eliminating offices like these are a step in the right direction.
03:17It's the right thing to do for so many reasons.
03:19I've just outlined a few of them.
03:21And I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment, Mr. Speaker.
03:26And I reserve.
03:27The gentleman reserves.
03:28For what reasons?
03:29The gentleman from Tennessee.
03:30Rise.
03:31Mr. Chairman, I claim time in opposition.
03:34The gentleman is recognized.
03:35Mr. Chairman, thank you.
03:36The Office of Clean Energy Demonstration is responsible for managing more than $25 billion
03:43for large-scale pilot programs and demonstrations across numerous energy technologies.
03:49It's our responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer funds, which is why the House
03:54bill includes no funding for the office to conduct new demonstrations.
04:00That said, the only funds provided to the office in this bill are for staff to provide
04:06project management oversight.
04:09My colleague's amendment respectfully would prohibit funds for that oversight function,
04:14preventing the office from ensuring programs that are being properly administered.
04:20That would directly impact the success of important programs within the office's jurisdiction,
04:26like the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program and Small Modular Reactor Program.
04:32These programs, which have strong bipartisan support, are essential to ensuring our nation's
04:37energy security and regaining U.S. leadership in nuclear energy.
04:43We can't abandon our oversight responsibilities and risk the success of programs like these.
04:49For these reasons, I must oppose the amendment and urge my colleagues to do the same.
04:53Mr. Chairman, I reserve.
04:55New Jersey is recognized.
04:57Mr. Speaker, I respect my colleague, Mr. Fleischman, tremendously.
05:03It's one of those few times we'll have to agree to disagree, but I think it's so important
05:09that we make a statement here.
05:11There are some good things that office does, but they do so many things that we don't agree
05:16with.
05:17And this is the conundrum that we always find ourselves in in Congress.
05:21In order to get a modicum of good things done, we have to vote for the whole package
05:27and the whole thing moves forward, and so many of those initiatives are not good.
05:32And that's the problem here.
05:34Let's do this right.
05:35I believe in nuclear.
05:36I believe solar can have a role.
05:38I don't believe wind can do well, especially out in the ocean.
05:41But the point is, let the marketplace of ideas be the ones that dictate what we should do
05:46here.
05:47I think office does so much that it shouldn't do, and yet we're told we have to vote for
05:52this because they do a few things we agree with.
05:55I respectfully disagree.
05:56I reserve my time.
05:58The gentleman from Tennessee is recognized.
06:01Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
06:02I yield to the gentlelady from Ohio, Ms. Kaptur, as much time as she may consume.
06:07I thank the gentleman for yielding.
06:11I rise in strong opposition to this amendment and say that I can still recall in this country
06:18when the first Arab oil embargo occurred in the 1970s, in the late 70s, and this country
06:25was shut down, shut down, because we were not energy independent inside our borders.
06:32And when they chose to close the spigot, it harmed our unemployment in my area, shot up
06:37to nearly 20 percent.
06:40During this war in Ukraine that we're experiencing now, so unfair, what does Russia do?
06:45It tries to divert its oil shipments here and many other places around the world in
06:50order to use that power in order to achieve its political ends.
06:57Energy is vital, and it can be used as a weapon.
07:01We have to be energy independent inside these borders.
07:05The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations was established in order to scale up emerging
07:10technologies.
07:11We cannot just rely on the past.
07:13This is an agile country.
07:15We have to build the future.
07:17And this office focuses on advanced nuclear, for example.
07:22It focuses on carbon capture, energy improvements both in rural, remote areas, as well as the
07:31reclaiming of former mine lands.
07:34We're looking at smaller nuclear reactors in some of those places.
07:39Oil demonstrations, working with the steel industry.
07:42They've made a revolution in energy savings.
07:44It's exciting to see.
07:46Energy storage demonstrations, regional clean hydrogen hubs, which I hope someday to get
07:51in my area because I so believe in hydrogen fuel cells.
07:55But we have to even push the technology further than it is.
08:00And others yet to be invented, certainly in the thermal energy recapture field.
08:04So I would just say to the gentleman, we must continue to invest in all of the above
08:09strategy to make this country energy independent in perpetuity.
08:15We cannot lose our momentum.
08:19And unfortunately, I believe your amendment does exactly that, loses momentum.
08:25And it helps to throttle scientific innovation, which is what the Department of Energy has
08:30in all of our 17 labs, everything that's being done.
08:33The average business that's out there can't do some of what the Department of Energy can
08:37help them do with a supercomputing capacity and with its ability to deal with rare minerals
08:42and so forth.
08:43So I just think that you may be well-intentioned in offering of this amendment.
08:50I have to oppose you, however, because I really think it drives America backwards.
08:55And that is not where we need to be at this moment in history.
08:57I urge members to vote against this amendment, and I yield back my time.
09:04Gentlelady yields back.
09:05The gentleman from Tennessee.
09:06Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
09:10Gentleman yields back.
09:11The gentleman from New Jersey is recognized.
09:13Speaker, just quickly to wrap it up, we are less energy independent now than we were four
09:20years ago.
09:21I agree.
09:22I want to look at nuclear.
09:24Look at carbon capture.
09:25Look at all these things.
09:26But don't make us more dependent on other countries.
09:30The wind turbines that are going to be – that hopefully won't be built but they want to
09:34build in our beautiful oceans are going to make us more dependent for energy on foreign
09:40countries.
09:41What we're forcing down the American public with the EVs and the electric vehicles will
09:46make us more dependent on China.
09:49And I yield back.