Eliot Engel: “I certainly will, and I will submit my statement for the Record. Let me say that what we are trying to do here is to…”

“I certainly will, and I will submit my statement for the Record. Let me say that what we are trying to do here is to move America off its addiction to foreign oil by requiring USDA to abide by the law and at least three-quarters of the fleets that they purchase will have to be fuel-flexible cars, and I am delighted that you will go along with this. We rarely have an opportunity to meet the needs of our farmers while also directly meeting the needs of our national security. But we do today. President Bush was right to say we are addicted to oil. But now we in Congress need to take action. We need bold action to end this addiction. We need ethanol--not as an additive but as a full fledged alternative. And though I am loath to use this metaphor during the debate on the Agriculture bill, we have a chicken and the egg problem with ethanol. Should we put more ethanol on the market and hope people buy cars that can use it or have more cars on the market and hope people will turn to ethanol? I believe we need to get more flexible fuel vehicle on the road. And, I believe we should use the purchasing power of the federal government to pursue this. Now some may not like the federal government interfering in markets. To this I would respond, this is about national security and that is the federal government's responsibility. And with the war on terror, we must look at all options--not just putting our military overseas but what we can do right here at home.…”