and in the whole senate as well to be at thank you. >> thank you come senator bingaman. when you're talking about good fortune, dr. moniz is fortunate to have you in that corner. general scowcroft, welcome. >> thank you, mr. chairman. german wyden, ranking member murkowski, members of the committee, it is both a privilege and pleasure to appear before you in support of the nomination of dr. ernie moniz to be secretary of energy and is an honor for me to try and -- to july and senator bingaman in support both this nomination i've been involved in national security issues related to energy and nuclear security. and the doctor has been a key element in that involvement. i can honestly say i do not know anyone to my department of energy at this difficult time than dr. moniz. his comprehensive command of the issues involved for his acumen and judgment all of which underpinned by enthusiasm and good humor for simply to be unparalleled. the latest of our many efforts to gather was the president's blue ribbon commission on america's nuclear future familiar to the members of this

that, to do our part in mitigation, many of which i've supported, like the proposal from senator bingaman, former chair of the energy committee in the last congress, to adopt a clean energy standard. it would set a national goal for clean energy usage and establish a transparent framework that lets resources compete based on how clean they are and then gets out of the way and lets the market and american ingenuity determine the best path forward. sadly, this plan failed to attract any bipartisan support and never made it out of committee. mr. president, although an idealist, i'mls a pragmatist, and i can read the politics of this chamber. they're deeply divided on this issue at a time when we need to be coming together. fortunately, there is bipartisan support for some steps to improve our nation's energy efficiency. we could take up and pass the bipartisan bill recently introduced by our colleagues, senators shaheen and portman, to increase the use of energy efficient technologies in residential, commercial and industrial sectors. or we could level the playing field for financing and hel