madam chairman , i thank the chairman and my colleagues on the committee for moving forward such an excellent package as part of the energy bill . 
i think many of us have spent the last several years hoping that we would get an energy bill passed . 
there are a number of reasons why ; in my district , clearly one of the most important is simply the cost of energy , whether it is home heat , whether it is the cost to manufacturers which is costing us jobs . 
we need to move forward with this energy bill . 
my district is home to a number of manufacturers . 
i have met with many of them since the beginning of the year when we were hoping that we would get the energy bill moving . 
what they have asked for us is to help them with their higher overhead , ultimately helping them with their competitiveness , helping jobs to remain in our district . 
obviously , these companies ' employees are much more susceptible to layoffs without the energy bill . 
i am also hearing from home owners , many of the elderly in my district with older homes , who need some help , some incentives to improve their homes , some tax assistance so they will have more energy-efficient homes , to those who are building new homes , more incentives . 
the bill also addresses our aging electric transmission system . 
many of our transmission system lines were built 30 to 50 years ago , and it is estimated by 2015 electricity consumption will increase by 28 percent . 
we need to repair and rebuild the 160 , 000 miles of electrical transmission lines . 
this bill will reduce the time for depreciation recovery and improve the opportunity for those companies to update those lines , helping in efficiency , helping in opportunity to have cheaper energy . 
it is important also that we encourage new kinds of fuel . 
especially important are fuel cells and , in fact , providing new jobs and better technology . 
fuel cell technology in the united states is growing . 
the use of it is growing and , in fact , jobs in that field are growing . 
i think it is important that this bill provide a 15 percent tax credit for business installation of fuel cell power plants and residential fuel cell investments . 
this is a great technology . 
it is one that has been utilized in other parts of the world to a further extent than it has been utilized in the united states . 
the help in this bill will encourage further use of fuel cells . 
this bill makes changes of the tax code that will speed the development of newer and cleaner production of energy . 
it will help curb energy costs . 
it will help move our economy forward . 
i urge my colleagues to support this bill , and i especially commend my colleagues on the committee on ways and means for the tax provisions . 
