Madam Chairman, I rise today in support of the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act.

I want to thank Chairman Miller and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Baird) for his efforts to modernize technical schools.

Madam Chairman, faced with record gas prices and a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, we must harness new technology to meet our energy needs. To do this, we must prepare students of today to power the green collar workforce of tomorrow.

I am honored to have worked with Chairman Miller and Mr. Baird to ensure funding for this act goes toward modernizing career and technical schools, especially for the renewable energy industries. By giving technical schools a chance to modernize, we will help even more students become innovators, work together to end global warming, and bring green energy jobs to the American economy.