Secretary Salazar, you are part of the new administration and part of a new hope for Native Americans.

The need for reauthorization and improvement of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

A struggling education system with consistently low scores and crumbling schools.

We need economic development in Indian Country, and for the inclusion of Indian Country in the new Administration's economic recovery efforts.

I applaud your efforts on this front, but as you no doubt are aware, we need to do more.

I think the chairman is right-on in holding this hearing and proceeding on this.

I cannot think of anything more important than having the military have the right to vote when they are serving overseas.

I think we all want everybody to fully participate and we want to get people registered and give them that opportunity.

But we want to make sure that we have fair elections without fraud, and that is really the way to go.

If enacted, the majority staff draft circulated by the Committee would be a landmark step in the development of the United States' renewable energy economy.

This will lead to greater amounts of renewable energy than if the Bingaman proposal preempted state opportunities to promote renewable energy.

I'm here, obviously perhaps, to urge the support and the passage of a national RPS.

This is, in my view, a national security imperative, that we find ways, and start planning for that time in the future.

The RPS has been estimated to create, if passed in its current form as proposed, 185,000 new jobs, $66 billion in new investment.

It's time that we finally pass this provision in both houses and include it in legislation that we send to the President.

The renewable standard can reduce our dependence on fossil fuel sources, can reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

Marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy is defined in the Tax Code, 26 U.S.C. Sec. 45.

A Federal RPS proposal, such as that proposed by Senator Bingaman, could easily increase rates in the Southeast by 5 to 6%.