During a Senate Energy Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) spoke about budget cuts to the Advanced Research Projects Agency.
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00:00Thank you Mr. Chairman one of the sages of New England Ralph Waldo Emerson said
00:09what you do speak so loudly that I cannot hear what you say. I have never
00:14been at a hearing where what's being done is at such variance with what
00:18is being said. Mr. Prochaska you waxed eloquent about the talented and
00:26dedicated staff of ARPA-E and all the great work that they've done their
00:30budgets being cut by 57% how do you justify all this nice talk about what
00:39you're going to do when your agencies being cut more than in half I don't you
00:45can talk to your blue in the face but what speaks here is 57% cut tell me and
00:52and and you went through your entire testimony all of your answers to your
00:56questions until you got to Senator Cortez Masto and never once mentioned
00:59renewables the fastest growing cheapest source of electricity in the United
01:03States today and let me read from the budget document green new scam
01:09technologies are not supported that's in the ARPA-E budget document green new scam
01:14technology are not supported that means no renewables right you've got an order
01:19from the president United States no renewables is that correct that is not
01:23correct so what did so he didn't mean news what does he mean news green new scam
01:28technologies he's talking about solar and wind everybody knows that senator I can't
01:33opine on what the definition of that language is I can commit to if confirmed
01:39that the ARPA-E and the portfolio that we investigate and we look into will
01:44include all technologies as I mentioned when you listed the technologies the
01:49nearest you got to renewables was a mention of geothermal last you never
01:54mentioned solar and wind and you use the code word reliable which is a new code
01:58word for we don't like solar and wind because they're intermittent but as you
02:02indicated in your answer to Senator Masto Cortez Masto when you have batteries
02:08with solar and wind it's baseload is that correct a senator it very well could be it
02:14depends on the situation but the portfolio that we will investigate will
02:20include all technologies and reliable is important to the energy that we need for
02:26the future to fund some of the some of the emerging technologies that we've
02:31talked about I appreciate what you're saying here what I'm going to watch is
02:33what you do understood budgets are policy and this budget the policy of this
02:38budget is a drastic cut a drastic cut more than half in the in ARPA-E I think one
02:45of the most important agencies the United States government it's where fracking
02:49started the shale revolution started with research funds from the Department of
02:53Energy and we're talking about a more than half cut so I'm gonna I'm gonna watch
02:58what you do and not what you say now mr. Mamala you talked about the importance
03:07of data and science and all of those kinds of things and yet there have been
03:11reports in the last few weeks that biological research in the in the USGS
03:16is being cut entirely and 25 water science senators centers which are stream
03:22gauges measuring storms I get the feeling this is like if we don't measure
03:27anything on climate change it'll go away is that what's going on here I don't
03:32think so senator thanks for the question let's discuss it again I'm not at the
03:37survey but I want to take a look if confirmed I want to go out and look at
03:40each and every single program its budget and cuts proposed somebody's already done
03:45that and cut your budget 37 percent before you even walk in the door yeah well
03:50again not the the cut assuming Congress agrees which I hope they won't yeah I
03:55I don't know that about that either but I'm not from it but the the program the
03:59the what's the contents of the program that has a cut associated with it I'm not
04:04familiar I don't know what's in what's being cut I thought you're pretty familiar
04:08with USGS I am but I don't know what you do you believe it's appropriate to cut
04:12all of their biological research programs well I have to see what they're
04:16talking about if they're talking about all means all as I understand yeah well I
04:20still I would be more comfortable once confirmed looking at that and saying
04:26okay is this a cut deserved or should we actually have a plus-up or what I want
04:32to be about eliminating 25 water research centers around the country is that a
04:35good idea you talked rhapsodically to Senator Hickenlooper about data and how
04:40important data is this is critically important data that appears we're not
04:44going to collect anymore I want to see again what cuts they're talking about
04:49that'll tell me where the data is either being cut or not being cut and then
04:53what's left on the table then we say yes we can still do our mission with what has
04:58not just to me like what's being cut is data that will be produced to
05:02demonstrate the danger of climate change to our economy to our people to our
05:08country to our environment that's if and it could you know not collecting the
05:13data doesn't mean the problem isn't going to be there collecting the data can
05:16alert us to where there are problems and where we can deal with them I hope that
05:21you're you say you're going to look at this the problem is as I say you're
05:24walking into a into a shop that's already been cut by more than a third so mr.
05:29chairman I you know this isn't personal for you people I don't know you I'm sure
05:35you want to do the right thing but let's get real here and and try to face the
05:40reality and to come in here and talk you know about how wonderful USGS is and how
05:46wonderful ARPA-E is which I think it is at the same time that it's being cut
05:53these two agencies are being cut in one case by over 50% by other case by more
05:56than a third just it just doesn't it doesn't pass the straight face test thank
06:01you mr. chairman