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Congressional Update NEI Washington International Reps Meeting January 9, 2014 Hon. Bill Foster U.S. Congressman (IL-11)
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One of two Physicists in Congress One of 108 Members of Congress with a business background
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Bill Foster’s Business Career: Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. Co-founded 1974 with brother Fred Foster –Bill was 19, Fred 17 –Initial Capitalization: $500 from our parents. ETC now manufactures ~70% of all Theatre Lighting Equipment in U.S. – $150M+ sales/year – 650+ Employees – Fred runs business (Bill bought out in 2007)
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Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. ~1974 -1980
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Electronic Theatre Controls, Inc. Today 650+ Employees in Middleton, WI
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Fermilab’s Accelerators Past, Present, and Future Dr. G. William Foster November 8, 2002
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Bill at Fermilab 1984 - 2006
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Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) 1984 - 2005
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Discovered Top Quark CDF Detector
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Particle Accelerators 1994-2006
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Fermilab Main Injector Antiproton Recycler Ring
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A: The Familial Recessive Gene for Adult-Onset Political Activism Bill Got Married, Raised a Family, Had a reasonably interesting career in Physics & Business. So: why go into politics?
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Bill’s Mother and Father Jeanette Raymond and George William Foster Met on Capitol Hill ~1950 Bill’s Mom worked for Sen. Paul Douglas (D-IL)
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11 th District of Illinois
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March 8, 2008
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Swearing-In Ceremony – March 11, 2008
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Congressional Ball - 2008
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What Life as a Congressman is Really Like Scheduled 12 Hours each day Read myself to sleep each night with a ¾” stack of papers… Live in a Crummy Efficiency Apartment in DC After last votes on Friday, come back home each weekend (where I get scheduled up by the staff in the Illinois District Office…)
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“Congress on Your Corner”
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So, why does anyone take this job? Voting Machine in the U.S. House of Representatives
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Reduction of carbon emissions is an important part of future climate protection 62.45% of clean energy generation in the US is nuclear Nuclear energy provides 20% of United States energy Nuclear energy is reliable power, available 24/7 Benefits of Nuclear Energy Source: IAEA Source: Exelon
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Natural gas prices have dropped due to large domestic reserves from shale formations Surplus supply of electricity leads to periodically negative electrical prices Nuclear reactors provide constant energy – cannot shut off Four reactors permanently closed in 2013, with another projected to close by the end of 2014 Nuclear power can become economically viable in the future if a carbon tax or a “cap-and-trade” system is imposed Challenges to Nuclear Source: NEI Frequency of negative prices increasing with increased wind generation
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Current Activities in Nuclear Energy $21.5M FY2014 request for Nuclear Energy's Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) – DOE R&D program to extend operating life of current nuclear power plants DOE $8 billion loan guarantee program for construction and operation of new reactors at Vogtle – 2 new nuclear reactors projected to open ~2017-2018 Investment in university R&D for new and advanced technology – NEUP and IUP (Dept. of Energy) has awarded $290M to 89 schools since FY09 5600 MW new nuclear energy capacity online by 2018 – 5 new nuclear reactors (including Vogtle) online by 2018 DOE granted $450 million to Babcock & Wilcox and NuScale for SMR commercialization New EPA regulations on carbon emissions may be beneficial to Nuclear Vogtle – August 2013 Source: Georgia Power Co Source: DOE
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On-Going R&D DOE Emphasis: Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) – Examples: NuScale, mPower, PRISM, Westinghouse, Travelling Wave, etc Many different reactor types being researched: High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGC) Fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors (FHR) Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) Very-High-Temperature Reactor (VHTR) Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) Supercritical-Water-Cooled Reactor (SCWR) Gen III+ Light Water Reactor Source: NuScale Source: B&W Source: GE
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Financial Services Committee
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BANK FAILURES AND SUSPENSIONS 1864-2009
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Recent U.S. Economic History 1992-2000 –Strong Economic and jobs growth –Paying down debt (- $200B/yr) 2001-2008 –Deregulation, job stagnation and collapse –Explosion of Federal Deficit ( $1,200B/yr) 2009-2013 –Reversal of Collapse and Gradual Recovery –Halving of Federal Deficit ( $600M/yr)
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Stay Connected Follow me on Twitter @RepBillFoster Like my page on Facebook facebook.com/CongressmanBillFoster Visit my website and subscribe to my newsletter at http://foster.house.gov/ http://foster.house.gov/
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