Emanuel Cleaver: “the Ford plant in Kansas City is now in mass production of a hybrid, which they are placing on the market because there…”

“the Ford plant in Kansas City is now in mass production of a hybrid, which they are placing on the market because there is hopefully going to be a great demand, and we think that in the middle of the country it makes perfect sense for us to manufacture hybrids because, after all, we produce the agricultural products that were mentioned earlier that can be used for E-85. We probably are in a situation now where we need to look at the situation with oil as a security issue. It is an issue that digs deeply into the pocketbooks of most Americans, but in addition, it is a security issue, and it is a security issue because the people of the United States, I am sure, do not want to owe this kind of money to China or OPEC or any of the other countries, for that matter, and so we need to think about this issue. Gasoline is an international commodity, and I think with the increased use of gasoline by China and India it is going to drive the demand up, and so the price of gasoline, in all probability, is going to rise. However, the Congress of the United States ought to get serious about trying to address this problem in the long run. I introduced a bill today that would require all Members of Congress when their lease expires on an MRA, the Members Representation Account, the money we get to run our offices, that when the lease expires on their automobiles, that they would have to lease or could lease only automobiles that are energy efficient as defined by the GSA.…”