I continue to believe that the policies we put forward then make good sense.

That should be a stunning statistic to us.

But I mean, are these new jobs that we're creating? Is this a whole new program that we're creating?

Does DOE currently use a rebate aggregator for any of the other programs that you operate?

I think this is a wonderful area, not just in terms of short-term job creation, but long-term job creation as well.

I'm thinking about the little guys today.

Why the decision to go that direction?

Does the Ketchikan hardware store--are they looped into this whole rebate program?

I commend the folks at DOE, the White House, and again all of the individuals from the Home Star Coalition who have been working on this to kind of get it right this time.

I have a whole series of questions, but in the interest of time, I'll just submit those to Ms. Zoi.

Are they able to take advantage of the rebate aggregator? Are they part of the point of sale rebate?

I want to thank the Edison Electric Institute, which represents 75 percent of the ratepayers in this country.

So to meet my Vern standard, how can we with the proposal that we have in front of us, how do we deal with the do-it-yourself individual who's working to bring about those efficiencies within their home, but as I read through the proposal…

I don't know what goes on in your house, but I am always after my kids to turn off the lights, turn off the machine, whatever.

I am a member of the Congressional Hazard Caucus and introduced this legislation to tackle the impacts of our Nation's natural hazards, and that is avalanches.

AHAM commends Senators Bingaman and Murkowski for the future focused provisions in S. 3059 regarding smart appliances and the smart grid.

So are you comfortable with the bills that we have under review this morning, that that data is adequately protected?

I had appreciated that so many of you had come together with the agreement.

Let me ask another question, and this is about proprietary data.

I think we recognize that this technology moves pretty quick out there, and more quickly perhaps than the DOE rulemaking process.

Even though we had moved our bill out, that work continued, and I think that that was exceptionally important.

When we talk about the need to retrofit, I can tell you most of the people that I am coming across are going to look to try to fix rather than to replace.

The goal is to better protect people in avalanche zones nationwide, reduce the growing potential for avalanches to damage property.

But it is, it really is an awareness, and I think with kids particularly if you can distill it--you are not going to get a 15-year-old caring about what the kilowatt usage is on the Xbox game.

But you have to have the desire to go to your Web site to find out.