Congress returns from a two week break today. Representative Rahm Emanuel says he’ll propose new energy legislation to help bring down soaring gas prices.

Emanuel stood outside a gas station in Chicago yesterday, pointing to prices at $2.99 a gallon. The Chicago Democrat blamed high prices in part on President Bush’s energy priorities, which he said don’t give enough weight to conservation and alternative fuels.

“I voted against the energy bill, I thought it was the wrong priorities for America, and it’s proven at the pump, in less than a year, energy has gone up over a dollar, and we’ve done nothing to diversify the energy we can use to help us here in America,” he said.

Emanuel said he’ll bring his own energy plan back to Congress today. It will include subsidies for hybrid cars and plug-in conversions for hybrids. He says it also will mandate building about a thousand ethanol and bio-diesel gas stations on federal property.

Emanuel said he’d pay for the plan with billions of dollars now used for subsidizing oil and gas companies, redirecting that money to greener technologies.