TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than three million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations, and dedicated to promoting, protecting, and defending America’s free enterprise system, strongly supports S. 1392, the “Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2013,” which would make our country more energy efficient while also creating jobs and saving consumers and taxpayers money.
As part of its “all of the above” energy policy, the Chamber has been a long-time supporter of energy efficiency. S. 1392, which has strong bipartisan support, would promote energy savings, improve industrial productivity and competitiveness, and reduce energy costs within the federal government. Passage of S. 1392 could save consumers as much as $13.7 billion and help businesses add up to 164,000 new jobs to the economy by 2030, according to a September 2013 report by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy.
At its core, this legislation would make our businesses more competitive, create jobs, and reduce waste. These are all important goals of the Chamber and its members.
While the Chamber recognizes that the Senate has not considered bipartisan, energy-related legislation in quite some time, the Chamber believes that it is important for the Senate to complete work on this important bill in the near term. The Chamber urges the Senate to deal with other unrelated yet critical energy-related issues as expeditiously and as comprehensively as practicable.
The Chamber strongly supports the “Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2013.” The Chamber may consider including votes on, or in relation to, this bill in our annual How They Voted scorecard.
Sincerely,
R. Bruce Josten