A group of bipartisan former officials of the Department of Energy - including Emerson Collective Managing Partner Andy Karsner - joined forces in response to the White House's proposed funding cuts for this critical work. Read the group's letter to Secretary Rick Perry below. Read more in the Washington Post.

This letter is a powerful statement of unprecedented unity by all those who have been responsible for the nation's applied science research and development portfolio and America's top efficiency regulators dating back four administrations. We are confident it will make a significant contribution to the national debate on the future of clean renewable energy and the appropriate regulatory and oversight role of the government on efficiency standards for appliances, energy sources, vehicles, and our built environment.

Congress must now act on its constitutional role as appropriator and ensure we fund and enforce and advance the laws it has enacted that comprise American energy policy. The overwhelmingly bipartisan comprehensive energy legislation that we crafted more than a decade ago have offered consistent and predictable signals for markets to perform effectively and deliver on the promise of energy security, economic prosperity, and environmental enhancement, all while unleashing a new era of unprecedented clean technology innovation.

We are in a moment of inexorable acceleration and technology inflection and won't be slowed down by shortsighted accounting as a substitute for national strategy.