[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 18 (Monday, May 8, 2006)]
[Pages 845-846]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With Members of Congress

May 3, 2006

    I want to thank the Members of the House and the Senate, members of 
both parties, for a really constructive and important dialog. We talked 
about ways to deal with America's energy problem. And we talked about it 
in a very constructive way, and I want to thank the Members for joining 
us.
    We talked about the need to make sure our consumers are treated 
fairly, that there be fairness in the marketplace, and there was common 
consensus that we need to hold people to account if they're not dealing 
squarely with the American consumer.
    We talked about ways to help mitigate demand, and one way to do so 
is to encourage alternative automobiles, like hybrid automobiles. And 
there seemed to be an agreement that we ought to extend the tax credit 
for these kind of automobiles to encourage our consumers to purchase the 
hybrid automobile.
    We talked about ways to--the need to research, to spend money for 
research and development, to change the fuels that we use in 
automobiles. One of the great promising sources of fuel is ethanol, and 
we talked about ways to encourage not only the production of ethanol but 
the distribution of ethanol.
    We talked about the need to continue research and development into 
new types of batteries so that the American consumer will be able to 
drive the first 40 miles on electricity. We talked about the need to 
increase supply of energy. One of the things that is necessary to help 
relieve price is to increase the amount of gasoline.
    We talked about regulatory relief, to see to it that we can expand 
refining capacity and build new refineries. If the American people want 
there to be a lower price of gasoline, we need more gasoline on the 
marketplace.
    And so we talked about commonsense ideas. And I really do appreciate 
the members from both political parties thinking strongly about how we 
can work together to serve the American consumer and make us less 
dependent on foreign sources of oil. The prices of gasoline should serve 
as a wake-up call to all of us involved in public office that we have 
got an energy security problem and a national security problem, and now 
is the time to deal with it in a forceful way. And I am heartened by the 
fact that we were able to have such a constructive dialog, and

[[Page 846]]

that there's a commitment to get good legislation out of the Congress.
    Thank you all very much for coming.

Note: The President spoke at 2:31 p.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White 
House.