Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Unveils Alternative Fuel Incentive Legislation

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., teamed up with U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla, and U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., to bring out the Fuel Choice for American Prosperity and Security Act (FCAPS) on Tuesday. The proposed bill lowers CAFE obligations for automakers if they make cars using less petroleum.

Fuel competition in our transportation sector will improve U.S. energy and national security, increase our foreign policy flexibility, spur economic growth, and lower fuel prices, Ros-Lehtinen said on Tuesday. By providing more options at the pump, we can dampen the impact of oil price volatility and reduce the leverage of oil rich governments and rogue regimes that are unstable, repressive, or hostile to the United States and who use oil as a weapon to undermine U.S. foreign policy efforts. Fuel choice will also allow the American economy to capitalize on our plentiful domestic resources, create jobs, and encourage innovation, all while driving down the price of fuel.

By providing automakers the option of rolling back costly fuel economy regulations, we are incentivizing a technologically neutral, free-market competition for transportation fuels without government mandate and without picking winners and losers, she added. I am proud to introduce the Fuel Choice for American Prosperity and Security Act with my colleagues Tom and Matt and look forward to working with the rest of the House to move this important bill forward.