Senator Mazie K. Hirono, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, took to the Senate floor for the first time since being sworn into the Senate to criticize a hastily offered measure that would strip funding for certain Department of Defense (DOD) alternative energy initiatives. The measure, a Republican amendment to the continuing resolution that funds the government, would strike funding for military biofuel programs, undermining our national security and maintaining our military's dependence on fossil fuels. Hawaii has been home to Navy biofuel research conducted at the U.S. Pacific Command.