{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20160826233300/https://franks.house.gov/transctip-floor-speech-energy-protection-amendment", "TRANSCRIPT: Floor Speech on Energy Protection Amendment", "2015-12-02", "2015", "2015-12", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "Trent Franks", "F000448", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "The following is a transcript, as prepared by Mr. Franks, on December 2nd, 2015, to support his amendment to H.R. 8North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015. Video of the speech can be found here.\nMr. Chairman, I want to thank the Rules Committee for making this amendment in order. I also want to commend the committees of jurisdiction for moving this important bill forward.\nMr. Chairman, our National Security and the reliability of our national electric grid are inextricably related. Without the grid, telecommunications no longer operate, transportation of every kind is profoundly affected, sewage and water treatment facilities stop and a safe and continuous food supply is interrupted.\nContemporary U.S. society is not structured, nor does it have the means, to provide for the needs of nearly 300 million Americans without electricity. The current strategy for recovery from a failure of the electric grid leaves us ill-prepared to respond effectively to a significant manmade or naturally occurring EMP event that would potentially result in damage to vast numbers of components nearly simultaneously over an unprecedented geographic scale.\nThe negative impacts on U.S. electric infrastructure are potentially catastrophic in a major EMP or severe space weather event, unless practical steps are taken to provide protection for critical elements of the electric system.\nNearly a dozen studies, including those by DoD, DoE, the Army War College, the National Academy of Sciences and the bipartisan Electromagnetic Pulse Commission have all come to the same conclusion: The United States bulk power grid is critically vulnerable to severe space weather and electromagnetic pulse, and this represents a profound danger to this nation.\nWe have spent now billions of dollars hardening are critical defense assets against electromagnetic pulse. However, the Department of Defense depends upon the unprotected civilian electric grid within the continental United States for 99% of their electricity needs without which they cannot affect their mission. \nSome of Americas most enlightened national security experts as well as many of our enemies or potential enemies consider a well-executed weaponized electromagnetic pulse attack against America to be a QUOTE kill shot to America. It is astonishing that our civilian grid remains fundamentally unprotected against severe EMP. And for it to remain so, is an open invitation to our enemies to exploit this dangerous vulnerability.\nMr. Chairman, my amendment amends section 215 of the Federal Power Act by creating a protocol for cooperation between industry and government in the development, promulgation, and implementation of standards and processes that are necessary to address the current shortcomings and vulnerabilities of the electric grid from a major EMP event.\nThe base bill does indeed provide for such protocols for protection of the grid, but only in a QUOTE \"grid security emergency\", defined in the bill as the actual occurrence of the EMP event or the imminent danger of one, and only after the President issues written directive declaring such an emergency. This is akin to having a parachute that opens on impact.\nThe nature of this threat is such that if there is a true emergency it may be then too late to effectively respond. My amendment is critical because it proactively encourages cooperation on a solution to our vulnerability before it is deemed an emergency. \nMr. Chairman, we live in a time where the vulnerabilities to our electric grid, our most critical infrastructure, are big enough to be seen, and still small enough to be addressed. This is our moment.\nI appeal to my colleagues to support this vital amendment to protect Americans and our national security from this dangerous threat. And I yield back.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20160826233300/https://franks.house.gov/transctip-floor-speech-energy-protection-amendment"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2231688015162945, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}