Congressman Lamar Smith
On June 20, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith called on the federal government to redirect incentives for clean energy such as wind and solar into research to make those technologies more affordable.
"If you want to talk about reducing global warming and talk about reducing carbon emissions, you're going to have to make those other forms of energy cost-effective," said Smith, R-Texas. "The only way to do that is to come up with some breakthrough technologies and try to reduce those costs. We're going to put a lot of money into research and development, but we're not going to get there if we're just subsidizing those industries."
Smith also discussed the federal deficit and other topics during a speech to the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce.
National Security Agency's leaked surveillance program: "I take the [Obama administration at their word that a number of terrorist attacks have been deterred because of some of the information that has been picked up. On the other hand, I have absolutely no explanation for why the judge who is supposed to make the government produce real cause rubber-stamped every single request that was put before this particular judge."
