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Nearly a quarter of the members of the US House of Representatives are urging President George Bush to support "robust funding levels" for renewable energy and energy efficiency in the 2005 budget request he will submit to Congress this month. The 105 representatives, including 25 members of Bush's own party, acknowledge that the administration is facing tight budgetary constraints. But, they argue, research spending for renewables and efficiency "represents a sound investment that could, over time, actually contribute to the nation's economic recovery" by creating new jobs, reducing energy imports, enhancing national security, improving grid reliability and curbing the costs of energy related environmental impacts. The group points out that the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology has suggested research funding should at least double over the next five to ten years and that the energy law passed in the House and currently stalled in the Senate authorises a roughly 50% increase over the next five years.