Obama: End dependence on fossil fuels

Seizing on a disastrous oil spill to advance his agenda, President Barack Obama on Wednesday called on Congress to roll back billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil and send him a clean-energy bill that would help the nation end its "fossil fuel addiction" for good.

Obama predicted that he would find the political support for legislation that would dramatically alter the way the nation fuels its homes and its cars, including placing a price on carbon pollution, even though such legislation is politically divisive and remains bogged in the Senate.

"The votes may not be there right now, but I intend to find them in the coming months," Obama said. "I will continue to make the case for a clean energy future wherever and whenever I can, and I will work with anyone to get this done. And we will get it done."

Obama said the country's continuing dependence on oil from other nations will jeopardize U.S. security and "smother our planet."

The president spoke as the country remains deeply frustrated by the worst oil spill in the nation's history, still worsening in the Gulf of Mexico. He sought anew to connect to that public angst while promising that "we're waging this battle every minute of every day" to plug the gushing oil well deep below the sea's surface.

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