WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- It's time to trade healthcare for hybrids, Sen. Barack Obama, D- Ill., said Tuesday.
The freshman senator offered ideas for reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil to the Governors' Ethanol Council meeting. One of these proposals is for the U.S. government to subsidize legacy healthcare costs of automakers up to 10 percent. Car companies are struggling to cover those costs at the expense of innovation, and the federal government should provide an incentive for making more fuel efficient cars, Obama said.
Obama criticized the Bush administration for not putting teeth behind proposals made in January's State of the Union address, and chided Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman for saying Bush's call to reduce reliance on foreign oil was not meant "literally."
"The solutions are too timid, the reforms are too small," Obama said. "America's dependence on oil is a major threat to our national security and the American people deserve a bold commitment that has the full force of their government behind it."
He said serious commitment to alternative fuels was needed at all levels: from consumers buying more fuel-efficient cars to the federal government setting a good example by using cars that take E85, an ethanol-blended gasoline, and giving tax credits to fuel companies that build E85 pumps at their stations.
Hal Smedley, representative of Colorado Gov. Bill Owens on the Ethanol Council, said this year's conference was the first time he heard government officials come out in such force for ethanol initiatives.
"The Governors' Ethanol Council has really been looking for a highly refined energy policy," he said. "Today we've started to hear some of it."
