Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to promote his ideas for bringing down gasoline prices by decreasing US dependence on foreign oil. A blueprint he outlined in a speech this past week calls for increasing domestic oil exploration and production, making cars and trucks more energy efficient and building vehicles that run on alternative fuels or electricity.
Noting that the US doesn’t have enough oil reserves to meet its needs, he set a goal of reducing imports by one-third by 2025.
“By doing so, we’re going to make our economy less vulnerable to wild swings in oil prices,” Obama said.
“We’re going to use cleaner sources of energy that don’t imperil our climate. And we’re going to spark new products and businesses all over the country by tapping America’s greatest renewable resource: Our ingenuity.” The address was Obama’s third in recent days on the issue.
On Wednesday, the president plans a trip to Philadelphia, where an arm of the Spanish company Gamesa makes giant turbines that generate electricity from wind. Obama will hold a town-hall discussion with workers about building a clean energy economy.
Oil prices have climbed because of growing demand in China and the instability in some oil-producing countries in the Middle East. That, in turn, has pushed US gasoline prices to new highs. The national average for a gallon of gas hit $3.619 on Friday, the highest price ever for this time of year, according to AAA and other sources. Prices have climbed 23.2 cents in the past month and more than 81 cents in the past year.
Obama said sparking new products and businesses during a transition from imported oil will help create jobs. The government reported Friday that 230,000 private sector jobs were created in March, bringing the number of jobs created in the past 13 months to 1.8 million. The national unemployment rate also dipped to a two-year low of 8.8 percent last month.
“That’s a good sign,” Obama said in the address. He recorded it during a visit Friday to a UPS shipping facility in suburban Maryland, where he examined all-electric and hybrid vehicles used by AT &T, Verizon, PepsiCo. and other companies.
“But we have to keep up the momentum, and transitioning to a clean energy economy will help us do that,” he said.
House Speaker John Boehner focused his party’s weekly message on steps he said the government must take to encourage small businesses to create jobs. Among those steps are continuing to cut spending, blocking tax increases, reducing the bureaucracy and eliminating regulations. Boehner once owned a small plastics and packaging business in Ohio.
Boehner said Congress also needs to pass a bill funding the government through Sept. 30, when the budget year ends, and avoid a shutdown. The government’s authority to spend money is set to expire next Friday.
“Washington’s inability to get spending under control is creating uncertainty for our job creators,” Boehner said.
“It’s discouraging investment in small businesses and eroding confidence in our economy. To put it simply, the spending binge in Washington is holding our country back and keeping our economy from creating jobs.”
