Byron L. Dorgan

senator, D-ND

US Senator Byron Dorgan was raised in the southwestern North Dakota town of Regent, where his family worked in the farm equipment and petroleum business and raised cattle and horses. At age 26, he became North Dakota's youngest ever constitutional officer when he was appointed State Tax Commissioner. First elected to Congress in 1980, Dorgan has devoted his career to fighting for the interests of rural America. Senator Dorgan served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992. He is a senior member of the Appropriations, Commerce and Energy committees. He also serves as Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and the Democratic Policy Committee. As Chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, he has worked to fund development of renewable energy sources like wind, solar and biofuels, as well as clean coal research that will help us find better ways to use the resource that fulfill 50 percent of our nation's energy needs.