Gas and OilPresident Barack Obama proposed using $2 billion in revenue from gas and oil royalties over the next 10 years to pay for research on alternative fuel cars. He doesn’t want the United States to fall behind in the race to develop cleaner alternative energy.

The president visited the vehicle research facility at Argonne National Laboratory and then gave a speech to employees about his plan, which was first proposed during his State of the Union Address, to use gas and oil money to research on how to replace hydrocarbons as the main fuel for cars, buses and trucks.

President Obama said the US was experiencing one of its regular increases in gasoline prices that become a tax on every household in the nation. He added that the only way to break the cycle of rising gas prices is to shift off oil for good. He said that it the move would be good for the environment and also about national security.

The president talked about three alternative fuel vehicles on the market in the United States, which are the Chevrolet Volt, Ford C-Max Energi, and a Honda Civic that runs on natural gas. President Obama made his speech inside a building that has a giant X-ray chamber called Advanced Photon Source. It is said to be the brightest X-ray source in the region. The facility allows scientists to study materials on a nanoscale and find ways to improve engine combustion.

The proposal of using royalties from oil and gas for alternative energy research is supported by both parties and business leaders but it is expected to be opposed by Congressional Republicans, who have criticized President Obama’s spending on alternative vehicle technologies.

The White House said that the money will come from royalties from leases on gas fields and offshore oil for the next ten years. It would be a small fraction of the total federal research and development budget.