Jeff Bingaman: “I believe President Obama has made an excellent choice and I strongly support Mr. Strickland's nomination.”

I think all of us, if we were choosing a Secretary of Energy, would want to choose somebody with those attributes.

He has demonstrated, on numerous occasions, his ability to find solutions to very difficult problems and to find solutions that could gain the support of Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike.

I would certainly like to thank Senator Bingaman, who just retired just very recently, for the strong support that he has shown me over the years, and including support for this nomination.

The President, in my view, could not have chosen a better nominee for the position than Mike.