Senate Proceeding on Jul 29th, 2009 :: 9:24:35 to 9:29:55
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9:24:30 to 9:24:50( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: order that a quorum is not present. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reed: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, i would ask that the calling of the quorum the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: mr. presi

9:24:35 to 9:29:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jack Reed

9:24:51 to 9:25:12( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: to mak bill. first, let me commend chairman dorgan and senator bennett for their excellent work not only on this legislation but also on the recovery act that was passed a few months ago. both bills apply significant money to deal with issues of infrastructure and issues that are so important that would

9:25:13 to 9:25:33( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: promote green jobs, alternate energy, energy efficiency. they have done an extraordinary job and i want to thank them personal. there is one issue that i do want to address, though, and that is the issue of weatherization. in the recovery act, there was $5 billion for weatherization. that's now flowing out to the states and localities. we're going to see, particularly in the next few weeks or months,

9:25:34 to 9:25:56( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: an increase in activity which is going to put people to work and also to in the long r use of energy. and this was a major accomplishment and i know senator dorgan and senator bennett were key to getting it included into the recovery act. the bill that we have before us

9:25:57 to 9:26:17( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: now includes a very small amount, in my view -- and i'm a proponent of weatherization -- for weatherization. essentially, the president asked for $200 the bill has $130 million. but one of the aspects of the decrease from $200 m $130 million is that every state

9:26:18 to 9:26:39( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: will get a will. rhode island, for example, have, if it was $200 million, $350,000 more to spend on weatherization. now, going forward with the weatherization money from the recovery act, this might be some year, but if we don't rurn to

9:26:40 to 9:27:01( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: a base of at least $200 million, we're going to see severe disruptions going forward. now, the like a small sum, but my state has a 12% unemployment rate, and any money that can be used, particularly since we've geared up this program for the act, would put more people to work and would be deeply appreciated.

9:27:02 to 9:27:22( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: and this issue is the same for many other states. new york, they would propose to lose $6 million. michigan, $4 million. maine, $1 million. nevada, $300,000. all across the states. so i would have hoped that we could have met the president's objective of $200 million. but one of the other issues here

9:27:23 to 9:27:44( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: is that the $70 million of this funding was carved out programs. i would hope that, again, if we were doing pilot programs, we could not go after the basic weatherization funds but find them -- find them elsewhere to iniate these pilots. one of the pilots is -- is basically to savings through the use of

9:27:45 to 9:28:05( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: insulating and sealing homes built before 1980. there are many individuals organizations that question whether this is a pilot program that that is worthy of several -- $35 million or so. one of the things it does is undercuts the notion that the whole house should be

9:28:06 to 9:28:26( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: weatherized, that there's no magic of just insulating. there's windows, there's doorjambs, there's -- there's energy-efficient appliances. all these things are -- should be considered. so a single, one-dimensional approach raises questions with many of the organizations that are actively engaged in weatherization.

9:28:27 to 9:28:48( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: for these reasons and more -- in fact, i'll mention one more this is critical. it is that under the law homes that are insated would be ineligible for additional weatherization treatment. that apple. and as a result, they would not be able to perhaps be more

9:28:49 to 9:29:09( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: efficiently weatherized in the future. so i think that is something that has to be as a result, the national association for state community service programs, the national community action foundations, all of them have written with concerns about this proposal, and i would ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a letter from these two groups.

9:29:10 to 9:29:30( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: we originally, senator snowe and i, filed an amendment to see if we could funding, but i think at this moment what we want to see is this bill move forward to conference. i'd like to would have chairman and the on this issue. and also would expect thatf

9:29:31 to 9:29:51( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: these pilot projects for this year are fully that next year we take another very hard and close look, if we can't resolve it in conference on the use of these funds for pilot programs. and then , final fortunates because of the work of senator dorgan a senator bennett, we have a

9:29:52 to 9:29:56( Edit History Discussion )

Jack Reed: amount of money through the recovery act. but, again, we should have to