What the American family does not want is to pay an increasing fraction of their budget, their precious dollars, for energy costs.

I believe [the Department of Energy] should be judged not by the money we direct to a particular State or district, company, university or national lab, but by the character of our decisions. The Department of Energy serves the country as a Department of Science, a Department of Innovation, and a Department of Nuclear Security.

Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.

What the American family does not want is to pay an increasing fraction of their budget, their precious dollars, for energy costs.

At Rochester, I came with the same emotions as many of the entering freshman: everything was new, exciting and a bit overwhelming, but at least nobody had heard of my brothers and cousins.

A cap and trade bill will likely increase the costs of electricity. . . . These costs will be passed on to the consumers. But the issue is, how does it actually...how do we interact in terms with the rest of the world? If other countries don't impose a cost on carbon, then we would be at a disadvantage. . . . We should look at considering duties that would offset that cost.

I approached the bulk of my schoolwork as a chore rather than an intellectual adventure.