 It's great to be here for the 21st annual Congressional Clean Energy Expo and Policy Forum. It's always an honor to follow the Senate for Maryland, but it's better to be ahead. So let me report that I've already had a win-farm work plot island in operation. So that's over my head. And we know Maryland gets there too. Now let me also recognize the Carol Werner and the Emeril Ford for their great leadership of the Board of Surveys. This is an opportunity to get together all these great advocates as well as technologists to talk about what we have to do to keep moving forward with respect to energy efficiency in the United States. For 21 years we've been doing it and we've made some progress. We've seen developments. We've seen the issues revolve so that we're using more renewables. We are using tax credits to help sustain the Senate. We're driving down the course. We're providing complete energy alternatives that are fairly important. We're looking at new advances in storage. It could be a key to even wider application. All of that is a result of your efforts. 21 years ago it didn't look this encouraging, but we can't stop now. We have to keep going forward. More research is developing. As I mentioned, my home state is very proud. We have our energy farm operating also plot islands. But we've also understood that this is not just about something aesthetic. This is really about jobs. 15,000 people in our island have jobs related to this sector of the island. And if you multiply that across the country, that is a significant increase. And that's the future. Those are the jobs of the future. And we've got to make sure they're available for the next generation of working Americans. And that's part of what we're doing here. It takes effort at every level. The state level, as Marilyn and I are showing, but also the federal level. And I happen to be thrilled to be the coach here at the Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus with Mike Gray for a vital role. It's bipartisan, almost bicoastal. Idaho is almost on the other side. And it represents the fact that we can get together and think collectively about the future and make it contribute to that future. Now we need to keep the proper energy well funded. And as Chris pointed out, we rejected some of the calls that Dr. Coney and Cubs we've just had the budget that supports continued enhancement of energy efficiency throughout the United States. We've looked at things like weatherization, which is important. We've looked at the sustained support for the search and development of the federal level. And also coordinating energy storage efforts. These are all essential efforts. And as was pointed out before, as the ranking Democrat, ranking member of the Senate Office of the Committee, energy efficiency is a national security priority. This goes to the basic level of protecting our forests and fields. Why should we be dragging, towing, trucking tons of gasoline to our troops when we can support them with all their energy? It's dangerous to them and it appears our mission. We can do better. The Department of Defense has set a goal of 25% renewable energy by 2025. Let's make that not 2025 but earlier. Let's make that more than 25%. It's for our national security and for many women to serve. We owe them that much. So let's do this. You are doing incredibly important work. Without your voice, without your advice, without your counsel, we couldn't do what we do. So please keep it up. This is about the future. The future of our environment, the future of our economy and our jobs and the future of our security. Thank you very, very much.