Bayh Crosses Party Lines to Join Senate Coalition to Lower Energy Costs

Press Release

Bayh Crosses Party Lines to Join Senate Coalition to Lower Energy Costs

Bipartisan "Gang of 20" to press plan to end foreign oil addiction

Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) today announced that he is crossing party lines to join a bipartisan group of Senators committed to breaking the Washington gridlock on U.S. energy policy by promoting sweeping legislation to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and ease prices at the pump for struggling middle class families.

"On the seventh anniversary of September 11th, it is deeply troubling that we import more oil from the Middle East today than we did on the day of the attacks," Bayh said. "Ensuring families have access to affordable energy is one of the defining challenges of our time, but Washington is stuck. The process to fix this problem has broken down, and we just can't afford that anymore. I'm joining this substantial group of Republicans and Democrats to make progress and actually get something done for struggling Hoosier motorists."

Bayh today announced his membership in the bipartisan "Gang of 20" Senate energy group. The coalition, consisting of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, will push floor action next week on the New Energy Reform Act of 2008. The sweeping energy legislation contains three main components: (1) an intensive effort to transition vehicles to non-petroleum based fuels; (2) a robust federal commitment to conservation and energy efficiency; and (3) targeted, responsible domestic production of energy resources.

The legislation takes an ambitious approach to energy reform by instituting the "Apollo Project," which seeks to transition 85 percent of America's new motor vehicles to non-petroleum fuels within 20 years.

"This approach makes major investments in the auto industry and will help ensure that Hoosier workers are producing those next-generation vehicles," Bayh said.

To ease prices at the pump, the proposal also includes new consumer tax credits of up to $7,500 per vehicle to create incentives for Americans to purchase advanced alternative vehicles that run primarily on non-petroleum fuels and additional tax credits of up to $2,500 for consumers to purchase existing fuel-efficient vehicles.

To increase domestic production, the group would open new areas of the Gulf of Mexico to offshore drilling off the coasts of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. An environmental buffer zone extending 50 miles off the coast would block drilling close to shore, and all new oil production would be exclusively for domestic use.

The bill would also establish a National Commission on Comprehensive Energy Policy to make recommendations to Congress to address carbon capture and storage, nuclear and renewable energy, and the need for upgrading and transitioning the national grid and other energy infrastructure.

"Our ongoing oil addiction is hitting consumers and workers every day. It's affecting our nation's security. Washington is doing nothing, and that's got to stop," Bayh said.

The "Gang of 20" coalition is led by Senator Kent Conrad (D-SD). Other members include Senators Bayh, Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), John Thune (R-SD), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Bob Corker (R-TN), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Ben Nelson (D-NE), John Warner (R-VA), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Tom Carper (D-DE), John Sununu (R-NH), Ken Salazar (D-CO), Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Susan Collins (R-ME).

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