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 .  