stark departure from the past. the bill requires electric utilities to meet 20% of their electricity demand through renewable energy sources and energy efficiency by the year 2020. it redues carbon emissions from major u.s. sources by 17% by 2020, it reduces carbon emissions by over 80% by 2050 compared to 2005 levels. complimentary measures in the legislation such as investments in preventing tropical deforestation will achieve significant additional reductions in carbon emissions. . it includes energy efficiency and renewable energy. that's to the tune of $90 billion in new investments by 2025. it invests in $20 billion in

electric and other advance technology vehicles. it invests $20 billion in basic scientific research and development and protects consumers from high energy prices. and according to estimates from the environmental protection agency, the reductions in carbon pollution required by legislation will cost american families less than the cost of a postage stamp per day. the fact is i don't come before you today to say that this bill is wrapped up in a bowl. i come to you asking you to engage in the process that is going on in congress right now, to be part of this debate, to be part of this dialogue and to offer your views so we can come up with the best product available. i also come to you to say, don't let the perfect enemy of the good. if we have a good bill here and it is pretty good, even though it's not perfect, we want your support and we want your ideas. but it's time to engage and focus on this energy bill.

it's coming. it's marked up in committee. it's in the ag committee now and going to need america's participation and input. i want our fellow americans know who are committed, the progressive caucus is proud of the progress that the legislation has made so far. we don't believe that's done, not close. but we're proud of the progress that's been made. we want to know it's not finished and input is needed and much work to be done. and while we consider this legislation a good start and a foundation to build on, we are continuing to push for gaiter expansion and creation of clean renewable energy resources like wind and solar, tax polluters and putting america back to work by creating green jobs that cannot be outsourced.

the general progressive principles for energy legislation are going to be that we need a sharp departure from the past where we can move quickly to secure gaiter progress and need to protect individuals as well as communities and it's got to be based on science and not politics. now i just want to say again, these are some of the basic ideas that the bill will do and i will talk about the mechanics of the bill in a moment. but i want to make it clear, the fact is that what we have had in the past simply will not work. we've got to have that change. and in order to have that change, we've got to have a lot of public input, and this is the time to offer it. i just want to take a few questions as we move on, because a lot of people have responded to my plea that we have a fully blown, strong conversation around america so people can offer their views on this

critically important topic. a question asked at progressive congress .org. why is the e.p.a. in the coal industry being gutted? well, let me say the reason why those provisions regarding e.p.a. oversight of the coal industry are not strong enough is simply because we haven't heard from you enough. we need input. we need you to talk about how you feel on this. we need oversight on everything, but we need your input on what we should be doing to have oversight on coal and need your input on how this bill needs to be changed to make sure that the coal industry is being critically monitored. this is critical. coal-fired plants and power plants are in my view, a serious

problem. and i think at a basic minimum that they have the technology necessary to clean them up as much as possible, but the fact is, even the best technology we have so far still, we have coal releasing matter into the air, lead, serious things, mercury emissions into our water that makes our fish unedible. we have to have oversight on coal. and i'm here tonight to ask you to get engaged in this debate. get involved in this conversation and put your ideas up here. why is the e.p.a. oversight of the coal industry being gutted? you know what? because we're not engaging on this debate and shaping this debate, calling our members of congress, telling them what we want. so i ask you to do that. very important that we engage in this conversation that's ongoing

now. i'll get to more questions in a moment. but let me just speak a little bit about what some of the key provisions of the bill will be, because we've talked about one of the provisions that people are concerned about. key provisions of the bill include requiring electric utilities to meet a 20% of their electricity demand through renewable energy sources and energy efficiency by 2020. now, that is one of the provisions of the bill. and i thought i would tell that to -- make that point before i got to the next question. 1,871 people asked this question, why is congress refusing to support obama in his call to get 25% of our electricity from renewables? the bill marked up so far is 5% lower on renewable energy standards than we need. i think 25% is a better number.

and i hope we get it. but without political force behind it, we won't. sokol up your congressman and let them know how you feel about a 25% renewable energy standard. i tell you this, i'm happy with the 20% renewable energy standard based on the history that we have had so far. a 20% renewable energy standard is better than the status quo, but it's still not good enough and not as well what we can do. i think it's important that we hear from everybody about the importance of a 25% renewable energy standard and very important we hear from people why that 5% higher more ambitious standard would be better than the 20%. and it's obvious why it would be better than the 20%. it's 5% higher, but what does it give us? what kind of assets and benefits do we get by pushing for that higher renewable energy

standard? at the end of the day, we need to hear from everybody on this point and need to hear from you. and if we don't hear from you, we will be poorer for it. another key provision of the bill is it invests clean new energy technologies in energy efficiency, including renewable energy, carbon capture sequestration and electric and other advanced technology vehicles and basic scientific research. in this category of investment, we're talking about a significant investment. we're talking about over $190 million. that's a lot of money. but the fact is, because the money for this bill will be -- the proceeds will be from the cap and trade system, this bill is pay-go neutral. very important to bear that in mind as well. the bill will have standards for

buildings, appliances and industry. addressing buildings is very important. more people need to know that a tremendous amount of energy is lost through the roofs of our buildings. we need stronger building standards and we need more energy saving technology and incentives to get us there with this legislation. if you believe they're not sufficient, we need to hear from you right now. the fact is there was a question asked, are initiatives for future government buildings to be built green? if not, why not? the answer is we do have standards and we have other bills in congress to incentivize the building of green homes, particularly in h.u.d. homes. there's a bill winding through congress now and the author of this is congressman perlmutter from colorado. that bill called the green act, a very good bill. another important part of the

bill is reduced carbon emissions from major u.s. sources by 17% by 2020 and over 20%. complementary measures such as investments and preventing tropical deforestation. now again, this is an important piece of the puzzle. the united states needs to do its part. i hear people from the other side of the aisle say, china and india? what about china and india? what about other places? if america sets a mark down there that we are going to cut our carbon emissions, that sends a possible signal and enhances our ability to our neighbors around the world and say you have to cut yours, too. america is leading out there in front and doing the right thing not simply saying we are going to change our carbon emissions when other countries change

theirs. the united states needs to take the responsibility and help lead the way. so very important and very happy that the united states is taking its responsibility to reduce carbon emissions by 17%. let me talk about the anuble energy standard in the bill -- renewable energy standard. the act requires retail electric suppliers to meet a growing percentage of their load with electricity generated from renewable sources. the combined renewable electricity and electricity savings requirement begins at 6% in 2012. that's coming up. and gradually rises to 20% to 2020. at least 75% of the requirement must be met by renewable energy except that upon by receiving a petition from the governor, federal energy regulatory commission can reduce the renewable requirement to 3/5,

60%. in 2020, 15% of electricity load in each state must be met with renewable electricity and 5% with electricity savings. upon petition by the governor, the renewable requirement can be reduced to 12% and the electricity savings to increase to 8%. it's important to keep this in mind. this is sort of the central part of this bill that the renewable energy standard that we set forth. this bill is being marked up and going through committee as we speak and will likely be on the floor before you know it. don't miss your opportunity to be a part of this conversation. it can't just be a beltway conversation, but a conversation that engages americans from minnesota, my own state, california, oklahoma, texas, all over. we got to hear from america. we've got to hear from america's

progressive community on these issues. let me also talk about the importance of this bill. we talked about the investments in clean energy. we talked about the money allocated for that. but i did not mention yet that this bill will promote deployment of smart grid technology and enhanced transmission planning. this is an important part of the bill. this smart grid technology and the promotion of the use of it will help cut carbon emissions, will help have a more reliable grid and will improve our energy useage, which is an important part of our bill. i mentioned energy efficiency measures, which include building standards. one of the questions that we already had, our initiatives for future government buildings to be built green. if not, why not? the bill establishes new standards for building

efficiency requiring new buildings to be 30% more efficient by 2012, 50% more efficient by 2016. states are offering allowances they can sell to support adoption and enforcement of the new standards. department of energy must enforce stands in states that do not incorporate building standards into their state building codes. also, we have appliance standards. it mandates new efficiency standards in lighting products, commercial appliances. vehicle standards, the bill discussion draft has included provisions to harmon nies federal fuel standards with e.p.a. carbon emission standards and california standards for light-duty vehicles. these provisions were dropped in the reported bill after the administration reached an agreement on light-duty fuel economy standards with auto makers in california. that's not all. there are other fuel efficiency standards. we not only have to reduce

emissions, we also have to conserve and this bill does it. does it do enough? probably not. but guess what? we need your input and advice. . the bill also has three primary programs for reducing carbon emissions that create global warming. a cap on large domestic sources, two, a program to reduce tropical deforestation, and, three, an offset program. let me talk a little bit about the carbon capping emissions from large sources. starting in 2012, aces establishes annual tonnage limits on carbon and other global warming pollutants from large sources like electric utilities and oil refibers. under these limits, carbon pollution for large sources must be reduced by 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% below 2005 levels by 2050.

this is an aggressive, aggressive carbon capping program and i am proud that we have gone this far. i think we could do better but this is, i think, progress. if the not enough progress, i think we need to hear from you. so, these are just a few of the features of the bill. the bill is being marked up. you can see it online and we hope that people will continue to offer their views on what we should do. let me go to another question. 3,455 people asked this question on progressive congress, that's 3,455 on progressive congress -- progressivecongress.org. progressivecongress.org. what is being done to decrease our dependence on oil such as wind, solar and other clean energies? well, that's what the bill is supposed to do. decrease our dependence on oil and allow us to generate energy from wind, solar and other clean

energies. that's really the point of the bill through the renewable energy standard, by capping carbon sources, by promoting efficiency and also conservation. that's what we're actually trying to do here. the fact is, there are a number of critiques of the existing bill and i just want to address a few of them before i go on to some more questions. one of the critiques that we've heard particularly from folks on the other side of the aisle is that a cap and trade bill is just an energy tax. first the plan is to repower america with clean energy jobs and efficient savings, not just drop a tax. as for capping global warming pollution, this plan is simple, it makes polluters pay and helps clean companies prosper so they can hire more workers. when the folks on the other side of the aisle say that this bill

will be a job killer my only question to them is, don't you believe in the ingenuity of the american people? you know they said when we had auto efficiency standards that it would somehow kill jobs. well, it didn't. they said that when we began to stop acid rain and use cap and trade for that purpose that that would cause job losses. it didn't. the fact is that ingenuity will save this problem and i think we should have a little faith in americans to solve this problem. and as i said a moment ago, it's the same solution we put successfully with acid rain in 1990 after which time electricity rates fell 10% and the u.s. economy added 16 million new jobs. they think that -- they're thinking inside the box and don't understand that we got

people who are thinking of new boxes to make. it's important to point out that acid rain solution had bipartisan support and it was signed by the first president bush. well, those days of bipartisanship, i guess, we would like to see come back a little bit more. another attack on the bill is, won't this energy tax, quote-unquote, raise electricity rates, even obama said it will make energy prices skyrocket, quote-unquote? saving businesses money is not a tax, sending $400 billion a year to the -- well, to other countries, is a tax and the fact is, it's a tax that americans are tired of paying. this plan, this aces bill, even in its unfinished form, declares energy independence and puts

america on the path to economic recovery. the president spoke of transitioning to clean energy economy that will create jobs, make homes, buildings and vehicles more efficient and protect consumers. in his inaugural address, remember, he said, we will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and factories and i'm glad he's doing that. let me offer just a few numbers in terms of jobs. clean energy job provisions, the r.e.s. or renewable electricity standard, will create over 300,000 new jobs, over 300,000 new jobs. the efficiency saving measures, which is the energy efficiency resource standard, will create over 222,000 jobs by the year 2020. cutting waste, saving money, the clean energy jobs provisions, r.e.s. standard alone, will result in nearly $100 billion in savings for consumers and

businesses which we can put in other things, which we can invest in other ways and efficiency measures alone will result in $170 billion in utility savings by 2020. very important to understand that the fear and scare tactics, people who don't want to take us into the future are going to say this is going to go wrong, that's going to go wrong, well, that's the very essence of a conservative position. they don't want to try anything new, they would rather stay in this status quo than go forward into a better future. but the progressive vision for our country is not that. the progressive vision is to deal head-on with this problem, face the problem head-on and create a better situation for all americans. let me just say that this bill, which has been criticized by folks on the other side of the aisle, really is in many ways a

bill that, of course, is it it -- designed to scare some people because the only solutions we've seen while the house was controlled by republicans is tax breaks for oil companies who posted record profits, massive increases in greenhouse gas emissions and erratic spikes in gas and energy prices. we know that gas prices have been going up over the last several months, but don't you remember only a short while ago they were astronomical, last summer, $4, stuff like that? well, they're creeping up. if we go green and really address the greenhouse gas emissions, what will happen is we will see flattening of these kind of spikes in our energy prices. we will derive savings and we will have alternative forms of energy and greater control over oil prices. marginal increases in renewable energy development, while the rest of the world engages and passes us on, we haven't seen

real increases, just tiny ones and greater dependence on foreign oil. the fact is that since 1973, america's dependence upon oil from outside of america has skyrocketed. has absolutely skyrocketed. and this period, much of which was between 1994, right on up to 2006, house controlled by republicans and for much of that time they had the house, the senate and the presidency and did nothing about this problem, it just got worse. now we are going to do something about it. so tonight we've spent some time talking about energy. the message tonight is twofold. one is that the american clean

energy security act is being developed now. it's a sharp break from the past. it's better than what we have now, it improves the status quo. but progressive voices have never been satisfied with just doing marginally better. progressive voices have always said, we got to do way better. we got to do as well as we can do, not just as well as what we might be able to scrape by with. and so i invite people who have a vision for a clean energy future to step forward with their proposals. the other point is that -- not just limited to the bill, it's focused on the idea that this is an opportunity for basic civic engagement and real democratic participation in our society. as we are now having multiple debates not only on health care

but also on foreign assistance reform, state department, as we're talking about appropriation bills which are probably going to keep us really busy over the next 30 days, the fact is we will be addressing this aces bill as well and we cannot allow the advocates for a clean energy, green energy future to not be a part of this critical conversation. so let me just go through a few more questions and then we'll begin to wrap up for tonight. it's thursday night and we're going to move on out. but let me just make sure that everybody who wrote in and addressed our website as we asked them to do gets their question answered. what can we do to make it easier for homeowners to become self-sufficient with wind or solar power? we can support the provisions that are in the aces bill which address heavy polluters, give american entrepreneurs and

innovators tools they he need to stay competitive which increase production of newer energy source, which reduces our fossil fuels and creates millions of new jobs. and we can follow the new building standards and the new vehicle standards. why can't we create better tax incentives to businesses and consumers to use alternative energy? 4,118 people asked this question and i quite agree. we need to take a close look at the incentives for businesses and consumers to use alternative energy and i think that we can do better than we're doing right now. and i invite you to engage in that conversation. essentially the answer is, the politics of the situation have landed us where we are now and if you want better, you got to get involved in the debate. hawaii is looking for 100% clean energy in 10 years, can every state be urged to push the limits? that question was asked by 728

people on progressivecongress. the fact is, the states, much power in the states, great incentives in the states, each state, all 50 of them, can get out there and set tough renewable energy standards so that each state can do well and let me tell you, a state can be a laboratory for the nation. if states get out there and show that it can be done, that we really can have 100% clean energy in 10 years like they're trying to do in hawaii and say, look, we did it, you can do it, here's how we did it, we can really make it happen. so hats off to hawaii for their ambitious goal. if you live in a state where you think renewable energy standarded like this can be reached, we urge -- standards like this can be reached, we urge you to get out there and try to make it happen. why are we expanding highways when rail transportation would provide greener alternative to communities? i quite agree. 2,799 people asked this question on progressivecongress. we appreciate you putting that

question in. as a person who's really into light rail transit, bike paths, we're having this debate right now as we talk about the transportation re-authorization bill. this is a bill that's only re-authorized every six years and i think that people should have community forums on this bill all over america. it's not just the aces bill that can help us get into a greener, cleaner future, but also the transportation bill and other bills that are coming up. this question, why are we expanding highways when rail transportation will provide greener alternatives to the commuters? great question. i agree that this is what we should be doing. i think that highways have been incentivized and given unfair advantage over light rail transit and i'd like to see them compete on an equal footing. so let me just say, look, don't be afraid of the future. the future's coming anyway. those who stand up and say, well, we can't have a bill that's going to help america get off fossil fuels and cut

greenhouse gas emissions because it's nothing but a tax, understand that the folks who told you about tax and spend liberals and all that, look, only been -- we've only had a president and a democratic congress for a few months. this stuff wasn't inherited. you want to talk about spenders and debt accumulaters, those guys sit on the other side of this chamber. the fact is, the progressive future, this country -- future that this country needs is in the hands of the people who are going to help america get into a green, clean future. this bill, this aces bill that's being marked up right now, that's already gone through energy and commerce, that is in the agriculture committee now, this bill is undone and needs the input of all america. people who have a progressive vision for america, people who aren't afraid of the future and not people who cling to the status quo and what happened status quo and what happened yesterday, but people who want