{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=f6160658-3433-4b04-b453-95a16e845471", "Sen. Flake Illustrates Washington\u2019s Spending Problem, Targets Waste from the Department of Energy", "2013-11-22", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "Jeff Flake", "F000444", "www.flake.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Mesa, Arizona\u00a0\u2013 United States Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), delivered on the Senate floor the following remarks highlighting Washington\u2019s continued spending problem, despite a $17 trillion-and-growing national debt. This is the second speech on reining in federal spending \u201cFiscal Follies\u201d across agencies and issue areas. Today\u2019s address highlights wasteful spending within the U.S. Department of Energy. Video of Sen. Flake's remarks can be seen below.  \u201cWe\u2019re now at the halfway point in the countdown to the next budget deadline.\r\nBy Dec. 13, the budget conference committee must report its plan for the remainder of fiscal year 2014 and beyond.\r\nWe\u2019re already two-and-a-half-months into the fiscal year, it\u2019s critical that the conferees agree on funding the government within the framework of the Budget Control Act.\r\nAs I\u2019ve mentioned before on the Senate floor, the BCA \u2013 which placed caps discretionary spending \u2013 has provided us with a necessary dose of fiscal discipline.\r\nWhile the BCA is not a silver bullet that fixes all of our problems, it represents $2 trillion in projected deficit savings that improves the nation\u2019s long-term fiscal outlook.\r\nWithout it, federal spending would go unchecked \u2013 allowing the deficits to be even higher.\r\nIn 2013, that deficit reached $680 billion. And in 2014, it is estimated to go up $750 billion.\r\nShould Congress chose to ignore the BCA, we will find ourselves even deeper in the red. In fact, some of my friends across the aisle have indicated that they want to spend a whopping $91 billion more than the BCA mandates in 2014 alone.\r\nInstead of offering smart spending cuts to eliminate waste and prioritize funds, many of these same Democrats have been compiling a list of their favorite tax hikes to replace the sequester.\r\nMr. President, that action fails to recognize one simple truth, a point I made here on the floor last week, and one that I will to make over and over again: Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.\r\nIn fact, 2013 set the record for the most taxes ever collected, at $2.77 trillion dollars \u2013 that\u2019s a 13 percent increase from 2012.\r\nYet, some of my colleagues want taxpayers to shoulder the burden of their plans to increase federal spending.\r\nWhile the BCA has proved to help to moderate the federal budget\u2019s hunger for taxpayer dollars, make no mistake: The budget is still bloated. And anyone who says there\u2019s nothing left to cut simply isn\u2019t looking hard enough.\r\nLast week I offered my suggestions for cutting waste at the Department of Agriculture. Just the programs I highlighted \u2013 and there are surely others \u2013 would save $5 billion when compared to the president\u2019s budget.\r\nToday, I want to share with you some similar fiscal follies at the Department of Energy.\r\nThe Department of Energy spends an astonishing amount of taxpayer dollars on industries and technologies that are already well-established in the public marketplace.\r\nBut few examples stand out more than the agency\u2019s growing role in the automotive industry.\r\nTake for instance the Vehicle Technologies Program, which is slated to receive $575 million under President Obama\u2019s 2014 budget. This program conducts research and development into seemingly every facet of vehicle manufacturing, from hybrid technologies to engine efficiency to advanced lightweight materials.\u00a0\r\nIt even goes so far as to draw up marketing strategies to promote consumer acceptance of products like electric vehicles and renewable fuels.\u00a0\r\nIs there really anyone in America who doesn\u2019t know what an electric vehicle is or what it does?\u00a0 Yet we\u2019re supposed to spend money to improve consumer acceptance for these products?\r\nThe Vehicle Technologies Program has also awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to automakers, including Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. Since 2010, the program has received $1.2 billion dollars of taxpayer funds.\u00a0\r\nCuriously, the VTP\u2019s official online listing of goals and accomplishments has not been updates since 2010.\r\nAnother well-established industry benefiting from taxpayer largesse is wind energy.\r\nBut don\u2019t take my word for it: Just read DOE\u2019s budget request, which prominently highlights wind industry\u2019s \u201cgreat success in deploying land-based technology over the last five years.\u201d\r\nYou also may recall recently retired Energy Secretary Steven Chu\u2019s admission that he considers wind a \u201cmature\u201d technology.\u00a0\r\nWhy then, Mr. President, are we pumping money into a technology that even DOE indicates should be able to stand on its own?\r\nA recent Navigant Research study made headlines when it reported that the U.S. is both the world\u2019s largest wind power market and home to the world\u2019s No. 1 one wind-power supplier, General Electric.\r\nA recent GAO report found that 82 federal wind-related initiatives funded across nine agencies cost $2.9 billion in fiscal year 2011.\u00a0 This is for, what we\u2019ve been told, is a mature technology.\r\nWhat is more troubling than the sheer cost of the federal government\u2019s fragmented wind program is the GAO\u2019s finding that more than 80 percent of those programs had overlapping characteristics.\u00a0\r\nGAO\u2019s subsequent recommendation seemed reasonable enough \u2013 that the DOE should formally assess and document whether federal financial support of its initiatives is actually needed.\r\nYet the president\u2019s budget, released one month later, recommended an unprecedented funding level of $144 million for the DOE wind energy program in 2014.\r\nWind\u2019s windfall at DOE comes on the heels of yet another extension of the multibillion dollar Wind Production Tax Credit.\u00a0\r\nThis tax credit was temporarily established more than two decades ago to encourage investment in the then-fledgling wind industry.\u00a0 This is two decades ago. Congress gave energy a seven-year window to take advantage of and prepare for the expiration of the original PTC in 1999.\r\nBut who is surprised that parochial interests and a host of extensions continue to keep this zombie subsidy from expiring as designed.\r\nToday, as the credit\u2019s supporters repeat their plea for just one more extension, they ignore America\u2019s debt-ridden reality. And so the walking-dead Wind Production Tax Credit, which is little more than a taxpayer-funded entitlement program, lives on.\r\nWhile I\u2019ve singled out automotive and wind programs at DOE, similar arguments could be made for reducing or eliminating the department\u2019s support for other established industries, including oil, natural gas, solar and nuclear.\u00a0\r\nMany of these programs are both unnecessary for further development of these technologies, and are blatantly duplicative. In fact, another GAO study identified a mind-boggling 679 renewable-energy initiatives across 23 agencies in fiscal year 2010.\u00a0\r\nProminently featured in a report from my colleague from Oklahoma, Sen. Coburn\u2019s Duplication Nation report, these redundant programs cost taxpayers $15 billion dollars in 2010 alone.\r\nInstead of continuing to pick winners and losers, Congress should reduce its footprint in well-established areas of the energy sector.\r\nNot only would this help level the playing field for emerging energy technologies that are actually prepared to compete in the marketplace, it would save taxpayers untold billions of dollars.\r\nWith just one month to go before the budget deadline, I urge my colleagues to reject the urge to fixate on raising taxes, and instead help focus negotiations on smart, achievable spending reductions.\u00a0\r\nBy eliminating waste and prioritizing spending within the BCA framework, we can shore up this country\u2019s fiscal future.\r\nTurning out the lights on wasteful programs at the Department of Energy would be a step in the right direction.\u201d\r\n###", 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://www.flake.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=f6160658-3433-4b04-b453-95a16e845471"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.6747750341892242, "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"}