Tom Harkin: “first, briefly, the Dorgan amendment to put 100,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles on the road by 2010 and 2.5 million by…”

“first, briefly, the Dorgan amendment to put 100,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles on the road by 2010 and 2.5 million by 2020, with the requisite fueling infrastructure, is one that is going to help grow our economy, make our economy stronger. The amendment by Senator Landrieu and others to cut down on the use of oil by a million barrels a day also is going to help improve our economy by making us focus on things such as ethanol, for example, alternative fuels, renewable energy and, of course, along with the Dorgan amendment, fuel cell vehicles. It all has to do with making us more energy independent, and that has to do with growing our economy. The more we continue to send our hard-earned dollars out of the country for the energy we need, the less dollars we are going to have to rebuild our economy here at home. Yesterday, I attended a hearing Senator Dorgan had that was devoted to the question of our economy. The question was: Will the Bush economic plan create jobs? Well, I think throughout the hearing what became clear was that the Bush economic plan will not create jobs, unfortunately.”