ADV.Wl 1 1) I M K(.,-i 1 1( IIMHI IGIES 



935 



to the White House. The lateness of the session certainly influenced the 

 decision to send the bill to the President, where it was signed into law 

 on November 4, 1978. 



Gold water told the House when the bill returned from the Senate 

 that he was pleased with the outcome: 



Although the bill originally passed by the House would have provided what I 

 feel would have been a more focused program, I am pleased to see that the other 

 bod) has provided some beneficial refinements to the program established by this 

 legislation.* * * This legislation represents an outstanding example of a case where 

 both the majority and minority sides of Congress have worked together in forging a 

 legislative mandate to help direct our Nation's energy efforts. 



McCormack was not quite as optimistic. He readily agreed that 

 the best course of action was to accept the Senate amendments and 

 send the bill to the President. But he made no secret of his unhappiness 

 with the Senate amendments. He charged that the Senate had altered 

 the tone of the bill, implying that photovoltaic electricity might or 

 would be competitive with conventional electricity within a decade. 

 McCormack told the House on October 13, 1978: 



While we would be most happy with such a development, honesty demands that 

 it is not realistic to expect it; and misleading to hold it out as a possibility to the 

 people of this country or the world. 



McCormack labelled other optimistic findings by the Senate as "ex- 

 cessive and unrealistic. ' ' He denied that foreign nations were using this 

 new form of energy competitively, saying that "this is a gross ex- 

 aggeration." He also expressed disappointment with the 10 percent 

 small business set-aside in the Senate bill, which he felt "may become 

 difficult in the later years of the program. ' ' But the House accepted the 

 Senate changes, and the President signed the legislation on Novem- 

 ber 4, 1978. 



McCormack told the House that his subcommittee of the Science 

 Committee would hold oversight hearings on solar photovoltaic energy 

 during 1979. In January 1979, a realignment of jurisdictions transferred 

 the solar area to Ottinger, whose subcommittee held both DOE au- 

 thorization and oversight hearings during the spring and early summer 

 of 1979. 



OVERSIGHT ON SOLAR HEATING AND COOLING 



During the entire period, the subcommittee followed very closely 

 developments in carrying out the Solar Heating and Cooling Demon- 

 stration Act of 1974. As the 5-year demonstration program passed the 

 halfway mark, the subcommittee held an oversight hearing on Novem- 

 ber 3, 1977. At that time, nearly all of the residential projects — over 

 95 percent — were for heating, while about 75 percent of the commercial 

 projects were also for heating purposes. 



