Pelosi met with several committee chairs and members of the House Democratic leadership Thursday to begin work on a package of energy proposals. She asked the committee chairs to recommend proposals that have already passed committee with bipartisan support, or measures that were left out of last year’s energy bill but are ripe for reconsideration.

While the long-term goal is to reduce U.S. dependency on foreign sources of oil, energy reform, proposals that might lower the price of gasoline in the short term are “possible,” not definite, a Democratic aide said.

Plans that have already been discussed include a $1.7 billion authorization from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for expanding public transportation and reducing fares, along with a proposal from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to let more federal employees work from home. Both bills have Democratic and Republican co-sponsors.

The bills could be rolled into one package or put on the floor in a series. A Democratic aide said the idea is to have the program assembled by the Independence Day holiday, which is to begin June 27. It may not get a vote on the floor by then, the aide said.

The program could also be woven in with an energy tax package that includes tax credits for renewable energy and research and development.

The House and Senate have each passed different versions of a tax credit bill, but have disagreed on whether to offset the cost with revenue offsets.

The group, which included Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), Agriculture Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), is to meet again next week to go over ideas.

Republicans said they hope Pelosi’s effort means that she is setting aside some of the ideas she has been promoting, like taking away tax benefits from oil companies.

"I certainly hope this means that the Speaker has realized that the policies that have been pursued thus far by the Democratic leadership would be either ineffectual or actively counterproductive,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). “Raising taxes on the American energy industry, for example, would cost American jobs and make us more dependent on foreign energy.”

Republicans have announced plans to use procedural measures to force Democrats to vote on increasing oil production in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Outer Continental Shelf.

Democrats and Republicans have argued bitterly about who has the best ideas for lowering gas prices and blamed each other for the pain at the pump. Since passing the first increase in fuel-economy standards in three decades last year, Congress has agreed on a biofuels provision in the farm bill and legislation to freeze the size of the strategic petroleum reserve. But the price of gas has continued to rise.

As the political conventions and Election Day near, prospects are dimming rapidly for ambitious legislation. That is why Pelosi is emphasizing bipartisan legislation.

“We want something we can pass,” a Democratic aide said.