WASHINGTON (AP) — As motorists face near record gasoline prices, the Senate took up an energy bill yesterday that would raise auto fuel economy standards for the first time in nearly 20 years and make oil industry price gouging a federal crime.Democratic leaders in both the Senate and House said they want broad energy legislation passed before the July 4 congressional recess, hoping to dampen growing voter anger over paying well above $3 a gallon at gasoline pumps across the country.

The Senate bill calls on automakers to boost their fuel economy to a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020, about a 40-percent increase over what new cars and the less fuel efficient SUVs and pick-up trucks are required to attain today. The auto standard of 27.5 mpg was last increased 18 years ago. SUVS and small trucks must achieve a fleet average of 22.2 mpg.

Majority Leader Harry Reid said yesterday the bill would help reduce the country's reliance on oil — an addiction that consumes more than 21 million barrels a day, nearly two-thirds of it imported.

Reid has called the auto fuel efficiency measure, known as CAFE, the most contentious issue in the energy package.

Executives of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler called on Senate leaders last week arguing that the Senate bill's requirements may not be achievable. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., is working on a more modest fuel economy proposal that he says automakers believe they can meet.

"The handwriting has been on the wall for a long time," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a long time advocate for more stringent auto fuel economy requirements. She said numerous studies have shown manufacturers can meet CAFE increases more stringent than those being considered by the Senate.

The Senate bill, which faces numerous hurdles to overcome over the next two weeks, also would sharply ramp up the use of ethanol as a substitute for gasoline, requiring production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol a year by 2022, five times today's production.

While the additional ethanol initially would come from corn, eventually nearly two-thirds of it is expected to be produced from prairie grasses, wood chips and other cellulosic sources.