{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=6d501b31-32d9-402c-bef4-0eb0de9df0a2", "Portman Renews Push for Bipartisan Energy Efficiency Legislation", "2013-12-19", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "OH", "Rob Portman", "P000449", "www.portman.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C. \u2013Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) spoke on the Senate floor to recommit his push for his bipartisan energy efficiency legislation, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act (ESIC), which he introduced with U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).\r\nThe legislation is designed to spur the use of energy efficiency technologies in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of our economy, while also fostering job creation. It uses a variety of low-cost tools to reduce barriers for private sector energy users and drive adoption of off-the-shelf efficiency technologies that will save businesses and consumers money, make America more energy independent, and reduce emissions.\r\nThe bill garnered over 260 endorsements from business coalitions, environmental groups, and labor. Today, eight of the leading organizations in the coalition sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell urging the Senate return to work on ESIC early next year.\r\nRead a summary of the major provisions here.\r\nBelow are excerpts of Portman\u2019s remarks. Video of the entire remarks can be found here.\r\n\u00a0\r\n\u201cThis is one of those pieces of legislation that we ought to pass. It\u2019s bipartisan. It\u2019s good for the country. It\u2019s part of an energy plan for America that can help bring the jobs back, help fix our trade deficit, help make our manufacturers more competitive, help save taxpayers\u2019 money, and actually help to clean the environment\u2026And it does so without a single mandate. It does so without any new spending.\u201d  \u2026\r\n\u201cBy putting energy efficiency in place in the federal government, the biggest user of energy in the world, we\u2019re going to see a lot of savings to all of us as taxpayers.\u201d   \u2026\r\n\u201cIt makes good environmental sense. It makes good energy sense. It makes good economic sense. It makes sense to help move this economy forward. I visited with businesses and job creators all over my state of Ohio, and they tell me the same thing. \u2018Energy efficiency is critical to their ability to compete\u2019\u2026We do live in a global economy. We live in an economy where we\u2019re competing in Ohio, not just with Indiana, but with India. And as a result, we need to look at our cost of doing business...Energy is an area where we can cut costs.\u201d", 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.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=6d501b31-32d9-402c-bef4-0eb0de9df0a2"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5634698793292046, "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"}