WASHINGTON — Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., this week along with 17 other House Republicans introduced a bill aimed at increasing U.S. energy supplies, including drilling for oil offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

The bill also would encourage the development of coal-to-liquids plants and support the building of more nuclear plants, while extending tax credits for renewable energies.

“I believe in conservation and new technologies that will make us more efficient, but we’re kidding ourselves if we don’t address the issues of supply,” Rep. Wamp said at a news conference.

A similar bill failed in the Senate this week, as Democrats rejected calls to tap into domestic oil sources to solve the country’s energy needs.

The Senate will consider next week a Democratic energy proposal that would, in part, tax oil company profits to pay for alternative energy research.

CORKER APPLAUDS HAITI AID

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., praised the decision by the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide $20 million of emergency food assistance to Haiti.

The aid will cover 38,000 tons of food, enough to feed 760,000 people for three months, Sen. Corker said.

“This isn’t just the right thing to do morally, this is also in our national security interests,” he said in a statement. “If Haitian families go hungry, it will derail the progress (Haitian President Rene) Preval and others have worked so hard to achieve.”

Sen. Corker has credited a mission trip he took there with inspiring his creation of Chattanooga Neighborhood Enterprise to help needy families find housing.

PADGETT OFFERS ENERGY IDEAS

As Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is promoting his “Manhattan Project” energy plan, one of his Democratic opponents, Mike Padgett, has unveiled an energy proposal of his own.

Mr. Padgett’s Energy 2.0 would end tax breaks to oil companies and apply the revenue to developing alternative fuels, expand “cap-and-trade” payments for polluters, consider nuclear power and pay down the federal deficit to restore a strong U.S. dollar, which would lower the prices on imported oil.

“If Tennessee voters stand with me, I’ll make sure they have a fighting chance against crippling energy costs,” said Mr. Padgett, a former Knox County clerk.

Nashville attorney Bob Tuke also is in the Democratic primary.

CHAMBLISS PORTRAIT UNVEILED

Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., was honored by the University of Georgia Libraries and the Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies this week with the unveiling of his portrait in recognition of his service as Senate Agriculture Committee chairman.

Sen. Chambliss, now the ranking member, served as chairman from 2005-07.

His portrait, commissioned by the University of Georgia, will hang in the Agriculture Committee hearing room in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., next to portraits of several other former chairmen.

Sen. Chambliss, a 1966 University of Georgia graduate, has committed his official papers to be archived at the Russell Library on the university campus.

“I am honored my papers are going to be in the library at the University of Georgia, but I’ve never set foot in that library,” Sen. Chambliss joked during the unveiling ceremony.