We must reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy.  Our economy and our national security depend on it. As Co-Chairman of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Caucus, I have worked hard to promote legislation that will secure America’s energy independence and advance energy efficient technologies.

Rising energy costs are putting increased pressure on the average American budget. Americans have every right to be disturbed by the price they are paying at the pump for gasoline. There are several different approaches to lowering the rising cost of gas. H.R. 2927 is a bipartisan bill that was introduced as an alternative, more balanced approached to H.R. 1506, the Fuel Economy Reform Act. Instead, H.R. 1506 would require automobiles to have an average fuel economy (CAFE) standard of 35 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2018. The alternative bill, H.R. 2927, lowers the CAFE standard to 32 mpg and 35 mpg by 2022. This legislation also recognizes that cars and trucks need separate fuel economy standards and it provides automakers ample time to make these improvements to automobiles.

While making our automobiles more fuel efficient is something we should strive for, we must look to the future and to alternative fuel sources. A compromise allowing the permitting of new prototype nuclear plants coupled with an increase in CAFE standards would also pass Congress with my support.