Resilient, whic ways that we bee are going to help both businesses and consumers. The bill includes investments in Energy Storage which helps integrate Renewable Energy. It has provisions for advanced grid technologies, which really help make our electricity grid smarter and more intelligent to move Energy Around more efficiently. It has Cybersecurity Research and development. I dont think there will be anybody here in the senate that wont support this more robust effort on cybersecurity, given the challenges and threats we face. It has a focus on new renewable technologies, which are great brickintroduce in helping to which are great breakthroughs in helping to drive some costs. The cost is basically onethird to onehalf less of newgeneration services. This chart here focusing on that is the question of whether you want to pay 4. 6 cents a kilowatt for production or 12 cents a kilowatt for production. I know this id rather pay 4. 6 cents. I would rather drive the efficiency down to the consumer, whether thats from Renewable Energy, as opposed to making investments in what we know is going to be more Expensive Energy for the future. When it comes to r d, we need to mawk sure that we are making make sure that were making the right investments for the future and that we are sending the signals that Capital Markets will take as also a signal for continued investment, and we need to make investments in our workforce because, as the quadrennial review report shoarks wshows,we will need 1. 5w workers by 230 in the energy sec by 2030 in the Energy Sector. That is a huge number. And i will say, madam president , that we do not have the right tools in place to quickly train as many people as necessary. Im sure the presiding officer would attest to this just in the biofuels area. Im sure that there are institutions in her state that are working hard to help describe and train and educate those in the biofuels area so that we can have a robust infrastructure, the science, the r d, the distribution, all of that. I know in our state were working hard on this with our National Laboratories in Washington State university in getting an advanced biofuels for the airplane sector because we want aviation to move forward on using those fuels and getting even more efficiency. And there is advanced manufacturing here where it is about making sure that our trucks have the same efficiency opportunities that we were able to help usher through in 2007 with higher fuel efficiency standards for automobiles. Now we want to make sure were investing in the same level of r d for our advanced truck fleets in the United States so that they can reap the same benefits of being fuelefficient automobiles. So, as i mentioned, the quadrennial review laid out of this out. That is why we took an effort with the committee on hearings that my colleague already outlined with more than 100 Different Energy bills and a variety of input from our colleagues. So, yes, Energy Efficiency is front and center in this debate. In fact, Energy Efficiency there were 22 Different Energy efficiency bills from 30 different senators and cosponsors in the discussion. I think in 2007 we definitely talked about some smartgrid demonstration projects and a few things. But nowhere was Energy Efficiency or the development of these policies, whether it is storage or distributed generation or protecting ratepayers, none of them were as front and center as they have been in this debate today. And thats because Energy Efficiency just doesnt make sense for the environment. People have seen that it makes sense for the economy and it makes sense for our consumers. As i said, it drives down the cost of production and, obviously, when it integrates more sustainable resources, efficiency becomes a cheaper, better job creator, and carries lower environmental costs than the alternative. So now, not only does it save consumers money but it helps add to the flexibility of of our grid and reduces carbon. So i want to thank a few of our colleagues who have worked so hard on helping us put this legislation together. My colleague from alaska mentioned the shaheenportman piece of legislation, which is a key cornerstone of this bill when it comes to the Energy Efficiency area. It encompasses much of their work, and they have obviously been stalwarts for years trying to get energyefficiency legislation moved through the United States senate and many of the provisions they have sought in the past are now in this bis in this bill. Obviously, residential and commercial buildings consume 40 of the United States energy. Thats roughly 430 billion. So when you talk about focusing on making our buildings more efficient and attacking that sector of our energy needs, there are some true savings. In the past, Energy Buildings and equipment standards have lowered the costs and they expected to save Something Like 3 billion metric tons of energy. And basically that is the equivalent of the Carbon Emissions of 42 million vehicles. So just by focusing on our buildings, making them more energyefficient, we can have a tremendous impact. That is why i worked with my colleague, senator murkowski, in authoring a section of this bill on Smart Buildings. Senator warren joined us. And Smart Buildings really will help us manage our energy loads better, particularly focusing on lighting, heating, cooling systems, and communications between buildings, and we heard from the department of energy that Smart Buildings really could be a game changer for the efficiency discussion. So i thank my colleague from alaska for working with me on that provision. D. O. E. Has estimated that Smart Buildings can result in a 30 additional efficiency in the way buildings are operated when they realize the full potential of these technologies. So you can imagine, if youre an dry and youre trying to be if youre an industry and youre trying to be competitive, what thats going to mean to have that level of efficiency. Every se sector is focusing on w to be carpet any of an International Market and i would say one of the reasons we have some of these what are now server farms in Washington State that is, storage data facilities is because we have cheap electricity. So when you start saying you are going to drive down the cost of electricity by such a significant margin be, people are saying, i want to locate there. So we want to make sure we are empowering free capital and investments to help us reduce Carbon Emissions by focusing on giving those powers to help focus on Smart Buildings. Now, this isnt just a u. S. Strategy. This is something that the United States could be World Leaders in. The International Energy agency says that china alone is expected to use more than 1. 5 trillion between now and 2035 when it comes to the Energy Efficiency market. You think about it,er theyre building so rapidly. And yet they could be incented that by the level of investment the United States is already making to further their own efforts in smarter buildings, reducing carbon, building more efficiently, and this is something where u. S. Solutions could aid, and i hope that we will in the u. S. Agreement with china continue to focus on these kinds of innovations. So, my colleague mentioned infrastructure as a key theme of this bill. I mentioned some of those provisions. As i mentioned, utilities and the fact that on average the United States spends nearly 29 of its total expenditures on utilities such as electricity and natural gas, and so we want to continue to make improvements there. Datadriven intensive industries also, as i mentioned just a few minutes ago, are part of the equation, and we know as they continue to grow, were going to want to make continued investmentvestments. In the Pacific Northwest, the bullet center, which has been an acclaimed building, really focusing on probably the greenest commercial building in the entire world not hole a netzero building but showing just how well you can build today the most efficient building using no resource, no electricity resource but putting actually back onto the grid. So we have many of these efforts in the Pacific Northwest. People have seen that Smart Building technology is expected to grow to to 7 billion now to 17 billion in the next four years. So it is a tremendous, tremendous Market Opportunity for u. S. Technology. I would like to just mention a couple of other provisions that our colleagues have worked on in the bill and thank them for that. Youd like to thank senators franken and heinrich and king and hirono for their efforts on Energy Storage that weve included in this legislation. And a program that is really focused on driving down the cost curve of ways to help with storing, whether youre talking about Battery Technology or largescale storage. I also want to thank senator i wyden and king and hirono for their focus on advanced grid technologies. That includes demonstrating how multiple new technologies can be put into the electricity grid on a microlevel. And this is so important. My colleague from alaska and my dpleecolleague from both see the challenges. Helping them on microgrid issues is critically important and as i mentioned making distributed generation more reliable, more intelligent is a very key factor in this bill. Senator wyden did incredible work on making sure that we added new renewables in the area of marine, hydrokinetic and biopower into this legislation. I thank him for that. I know that my colleagues, senator king and sanders, and i know well be joined by senator reed on the floor, are continuing to push the envelope on innovative ways to paycheck e make sure that to make sure that solar has generated work. We certainly put some more authority to make sure that we are protecting consumers. But i think youll probably see where people will want to go further to make sure that we are empowering what i call everybody from the tea party to the environmentalists who want to be in the solar business, put solar on their roof, or be in some other form of Renewable Energy but dont want to be gouged for the cost of doing that by the utility. They want the tuttle to make the investment and they want they want the utility to make the investment and they want to get a return for theme participating in energy for reducing energ. I want to thank those, as i mentioned mary anne portman, 2003 more than half of the Cyber Incidents were directed at Critical Energy infrastructure. Half of the Cyber Incidents. The bill today basically says the department of energy will be the leader in coordinating our Cyber Response for the Energy Sector and that we will be working on the r d in partnership with the private sector to make sure that we have the right kind of information sharing to continue to make the kinds of investments for resiliency that we need to have for cybersecurity. And lastly, i just want to mention a few things. The advanced Vehicle Technologies Program senators stabenow and peters and senator alexander all worked on this section of the legislation to try to, as i mentioned earlier, drive safe fuel efficiency into advanced trucks as we have in automobiles. This is something in my state where Companies Like pack car and the Pacific Northwest laboratories are already trying to drive down the cost of truck transportation. Why . Because they see how much freight the United States is moving to overseas markets. We see that we have products that were going to sell to developing overseas world but we have to move them cost effectively, so weve put a lot of work into making our truck transportation more efficient. And i thank senator warren for her work on the Energy Information administration and senator manchin for his work on workforce issues which im sure were going to continue to hear about when we come to the floor as it relates to our mine workers and a variety of other people of how we keep transitioning to training and making sure we have the workforce for tomorrow. And lastly, i just want to mention my colleague, senator heinrich, who has been very active on the workforce issues as well in making sure that we have grants for workforce shortages and job training. So i think, madam president , my colleague from alaska said it best, that this is not a bill that is about what everybody wanted but about what we could do that is important to move forward now. That it was built on a good bipartisan process, that means that people had their input and we hope to follow the same process here on the floor. On this side of the aisle, im sure that my colleagues will want to talk about ways in which we would go further, the Energy Innovation act we introduced last september has many of these provisions. Things like having an Energy Efficiency resource standard at a national level, getting senator bennet and isaksons save act, which makes sure that consumers realize as homeowners the benefits of Energy Efficiency that they make investments in. I mentioned my colleague senator reid of nevada and senator king of maine who have innovative ways to make sure that consumers benefit from being in the solar business. And im sure is that we will hear many, many more from people on both sides of the aisle on their ideas of how they would like to improve this bill. But as my colleague from alaska said, its important that we Work Together and not try to torpedo this bill, but move forward on what has been a good bipartisan process and continue to make investments for the future. One of the last things i want to mention as an investment for the future has been the success of the land and Water Conservation fund. Im so proud that the land and Water Conservation fund was an original legislation by my predecessor, scoop jackson, a senator that served our state many years, and the land and Water Conservation fund i think serves as one of the most successful conservation programs in our countrys history. And it had been successful for more than 50 years before it was dismantled. And then in the omnibus we were able to reestablish it for the next three years. Obviously our committee came to a bipartisan decision that it should be, we think, made permanent because it was such a successful program, at least it should receive the same attention that it did for the first 50 years and continue us on the same journey weve been making to make sure that we have open space in the United States of america as we continue to grow. These are important outdoor spaces that feels generated an that have also generated an incredible Outdoor Economy for the United States of america. It has generated economic revenue by having the ability for people to go to the outdoors. So i hope that we will keep that as part of this legislation as it moves all the way through the United States senate and through the house and to the president s desk, permanent reauthorization of the land and Water Conservation fund. So, madam president , at this time im going to turn the floor back over to our colleagues who would like to discuss this bill or other things, but to say that this is about modernization of energy, the lifeblood of our economy, driving down the cost through investments on a new strategy for the future, not holding on to the past as much as moving forward to the future, and enabling our businesses, our ratepayers and all of those that we care about in that economy to continue to reap the benefits of nextgeneration energy technology, Renewable Technology thats cleaner, more efficient and will keep our economy in a drivers seat for our own u. S. Economy and be a game changer for the ability for us on an international basis to provide solutions that are cleaner, more efficient for sure, and will help us deal with the carbon issues around the globe. So with that, madam president , i yield the floor. Mr. Cornyn madam president . The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn madam president , i know well be breaking with the regular time for our policy luncheons. After i get through speaking here briefly, i of course yield to t