For far too long, America has been without a comprehensive energy plan, and today consumers are paying the price - literally - at the pump and in their heating bills.

We are a nation that seeks out solutions and refuses to ignore challenges.

We have so many people retiring that we do not have enough people paying into the system to be able to provide the benefits for those collecting those benefits.

The fact is that one of the earliest lessons I learned in business was that balance sheets and income statements are fiction, cash flow is reality.

Time and again we have learned that the best way to achieve growth and create jobs is for hardworking people to keep more of their own money in their own pockets.

We must remain steadfast in our commitment to our troops, and to those fighting for a free and democratic Iraq because freedom makes our country and the world a safer place.

Guantanamo Bay houses enemy combatants ranging from terrorist trainers and recruiters to bomb makers, would-be suicide bombers, and terrorist financiers.