In his weekly radio address to the nation Saturday, President Bush expressed optimism that energy policy is one area where both Republicans and Democrats can work together and make some progress.

“Republicans and Democrats both recognize these problems. We agree on the solution: We need to diversify our energy supply and make America less dependent on foreign oil,” said the president.

Bush said that his “Twenty in Ten” plan to reduce America’s gasoline usage by 20 percent in the next 10 years has received bipartisan support.

This past week, we took a key step toward my “Twenty in Ten” goal when I sent Congress my budget for the next fiscal year. The budget proposes $2.7 billion to expand alternative energy research, a 53 percent increase over the 2006 funding level. These funds will support further research into cellulosic ethanol, which can be produced from sources like wood chips and grasses. These funds will also support promising technologies beyond ethanol, such as new forms of biodiesel, lithium-ion batteries, and hydrogen fuel cells.

Read and/or listen to the president’s address on the White House website.