Tom Harkin: “high prices for gasoline, diesel fuel and other petroleum-based energy continue to cause pain for millions of people, in…”

“high prices for gasoline, diesel fuel and other petroleum-based energy continue to cause pain for millions of people, in Iowa and all across the country. Our dependence on foreign oil is a clear and present danger to our national security. If we are serious about national security, we need a bold national commitment to renewable energy--a commitment on par with the Apollo moon-shot program in the 1960s. Today, I am pleased to be joined by my colleague from Indiana, Senator Lugar in proposing a major component of such a program--the Biofuels Security Act--a comprehensive plan to ramp-up ethanol and biodiesel production, and to make it available and usable at the pump in every State in America. Perhaps Senator Lugar said it best earlier this year when he commented that energy is the albatross around the neck of U.S. national security. The distinguished senior Senator from Indiana has been a thoughtful, prescient thinker about the national security implications of our addiction to foreign oil, and I am delighted to be joining with him, today. Senators Johnson, Dorgan and Biden are also original cosponsors of this legislation, for which I am grateful. The Senators have been outspoken champions of biofuels for many years now, and strong advocates for their home States. The goal of this legislation is to help restore America's energy security--which, in this day and age, is synonymous with national security.…”