Bush’s Other Energy

ABC News’ Bret Hovell Reports: The President’s remarks on the fall-out from the fired judges wasn’t be his only appearance in front of cameras this Tuesday: This afternoon President Bush traveled to Kansas and Missouri to talk energy policy.

Saying that the American people expect Democrats and Republicans to work together on energy consumption, President Bush called on Congress to pass energy legislation by the start of the summer driving season.

"That would be a good sign that we recognize that we’ve got a problem here in America, and we aim to solve it together," the President said.

Bush’s remarks came after he toured a two assembly plants in the Kansas City area — one building Ford cars and trucks and the other building General Motors products.  Both plants build hybrid vehicles, which run on a combination of gasoline and electricity.

As he has in the past, the President called for investment in new technologies, such as hybrid technology, to lessen the demand for foreign sources of energy.  He framed the discussion of alternative sources of energy in terms of national security. 

"When you’re dependent on oil from parts of the world where people may not necessarily like us," the President said, "that creates a national security problem."

Bush reiterated his "20/10" plan –- decreasing gasoline consumption 20 percent over the next ten years, telling the assembled factory workers that if Americans want to help reduce their own consumption of gasoline and foreign oil, buying a hybrid would be a good start.

The President also stressed the need to invest in other sources of energy, including ethanol, which is derived from corn but he acknowledged the concern of other industries that rely on corn –- such as hog farmers –- that rising corn prices could be bad for their businesses.  He encouraged investment in ethanol derived from other sources such as switchgrass and even wood chips.

"It may sound far-fetched to some that one of these days we’ll be making a product that can go into a Ford pickup truck out of wood chips, and you’ll be able to drive just like it was full of gasoline, but those days are around the corner," he said.