Dear Chairwoman Murkowski, Ranking Member Manchin, Chairman Pallone, and Ranking Member Walden: We, the undersigned, represent a broad coalition of states, energy efficiency organizations, businesses, builders, trade associations, and public interest groups writing to express our support for the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2019 (S. 2137 and H.R. 3962).1 These bills are more colloquially known by the names of their respective sponsors: “Portman-Shaheen” and “Welch-McKinley.” These identical bills would save energy and reduce costs for families and businesses, create jobs and promote economic growth, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants. We urge your support for these bills and encourage you to bring S. 2137 and H.R. 3962 up for consideration and a vote before your respective committees at the earliest possible time.
These bipartisan bills include provisions that would improve U.S. energy productivity, expand energy efficiency savings and benefits across the economy, and seize opportunities to reduce the energy and water consumption of the federal government. Passage of this legislation would create jobs in local economies across the country and lower energy costs—year after year—for American households. More specifically, Portman-Shaheen and Welch-McKinley would create a national strategy to increase the use of energy efficiency through a model building energy code; promote the cost-effective implementation of building energy codes; help ensure homeowners can realize a return on investment for energy efficiency upgrades by updating mortgage rules to account for the value of energy savings; re-establish forward-looking energy and water consumption targets for federal agencies; encourage strategic planning to meet sustainability goals; promote public-private partnerships to implement energy and water conservation measures; streamline information to support the deployment of energy-efficient technologies in schools; improve commercial building efficiency; and set forth a number of other policies and initiatives.