1.   Influential unions abandoned environmental groups to support Republican leaders and industry on auto efficiency and drilling.

2.   Still, the technology is worth pursuing, as long as the administration also pushes for immediate improvements in auto efficiency.

3.   Democrats are calling for the government to require increased auto fuel efficiency, especially as it applies to the popular SUVs.

4.   A highly controversial proposal to open up an Alaskan refuge to oil and gas exploration and a plan to improve auto fuel efficiency had been stripped from the legislation.