Delayed energy projects and regulatory hurdles to domestic oil production not only cost the United States economy billions of dollars and millions of jobs, but they also stand in the way of an elusive goal: true American energy security.

Education is critical not only to each one of us individually, but also to build the economic vitality of our state.

Our Keystone legislation received strong bipartisan support in the Senate. Although it didn't receive the 60 votes necessary for passage, 56 senators - a majority - voted in favor of the bill. Despite President Obama's actively lobbying against the bill, we still won the support of 11 Democrats.

If you take a look at Medicare, there are things we could do, not just tort reform but truly reform the whole reimbursement system which will help in terms of reducing costs and creating the right kind of incentives for savings.

The key to revenue growth is tax reform that closes loopholes and that is pro-growth. Then with a growing economy, that's where your revenue growth comes in, not from higher taxes.

One of the key things that we did at Bank of North Dakota that I worked to try to do with our state economic development is make sure we are customer-service oriented.

The fact is, America needs energy and new energy infrastructure, and the Keystone XL pipeline will help us achieve that with good stewardship.