Chairman Barton, Congressman Dingell and members of the committee, I am honored to be here today to discuss the president’s fiscal year 2006 budget proposals for the Department of Energy. As the members of the committee know, this department is charged with a broad set of missions that are vital to our nation’s defense and our national and economic security.

The Department of Energy is the steward of our nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, with the responsibility of ensuring that our nuclear deterrent—which was so crucial in winning the Cold War—continues to be viable and effective in today’s changing world. This department also leads America’s international nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

Closely related to our nuclear defense mission is the cleanup of sites around the country that have been contaminated through the development of our nuclear capability. We have revamped this massive cleanup process, reducing the timetable by 35 years and the cost by about $50 billion.

The Department of Energy also is the primary federal agency charged with maintaining our country’s world leadership in science. Our National Laboratories include some of the most sophisticated science facilities in the world, and their work has led to some of the most important scientific advances of our age.

And the department also, of course, has the mission of ensuring a stable, reliable, secure and affordable supply of energy for our nation’s growing economy, while doing so in an environmentally responsible way.

Our energy challenges today are greater than ever before. We face rapid growth in the demand for oil and natural gas at a time when domestic production is hard-pressed to keep up and world energy markets are increasingly characterized by price volatility and political uncertainty.