Senator Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat and chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that the priorities Obama laid out were a "very good blueprint for how we can accelerate economic growth in our country."
'A Path'
Dave Foster, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, a group that represents labor and environmental groups, said in an interview that Obama was "showing us a path" to how clean energy can increase manufacturing jobs.
Obama also repeated his call from last year to repeal tax credits for the oil and gas industry. That effort failed to win broad support in Congress, after producers said the measures would push more production and jobs outside the U.S.
"Advocating greater energy production but penalizing those who provide that energy is not a sound energy policy, but a contradiction," Jack Gerard, chief executive officer of the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement.