House Republicans on Wednesday said they've introduced a revised version of legislation designed to boost use of natural gas, thereby helping to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
"People are fed up and they want to see us lessen our dependence on foreign oil," said Rep. John Sullivan, R-Okla., adding the U.S. already has a 120 year reserve of nat gas. "It is absolutely asinine not to use that. We don't need to be sending money overseas to buy oil when we could get it right here in our own backyard."
Speaking on Wednesday's "Mad Money," Sullivan told Cramer the U.S. spends up to $2 billion a day on foreign oil. Of the 21 million barrels of oil the U.S. consumers a day, he said 69 percent is foreign oil. He thinks the bill entitled, New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions of 2011, will change that.
While a previous attempt by Sullivan to promote nat gas use had failed, he's confident this piece of legislation will pass. With a gallon of gasoline expected to reach $5 this summer, he thinks Congress will need to act. Not to mention, H.R. 1380 is a bi-partisan effort.
Sullivan, along with Reps. Dan Boren, D-Okla., John Larson, D-Conn. and Kevin Brady, R-Texas introduced the bill on Wednesday. It had 76 original co-sponsors. To appease the fiscally-conservative members, Sullivan stripped the bill of any federal mandates and subsidies. Sullivan said he also reduced the authorization of the tax credit from 17 years to 5 years.
Looking forward, Sullivan said he expects the bill to go through committee and soon reach the House floor. He expects it will pass the House and Senate by summer. As vice chairman of the House subcommittee on Energy and Power, he said he'll continue to work with Congressional leaders to get the bill passed.
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