From what I have heard from people who know better than I, ethanol is a net energy sink. It takes more energy to get a gallon of corn ethanol than you get from burning it. In the mean time, you might as well be burning money.
There are a number of things that the United States can do to improve our "energy independence". More refineries, more offshore drilling. etc. However, oil is (and will continue to be) a global commodity. IIRC, we get a lot of our our from Mexico and Venzuela; Alaska's oil goes to Japan; Europe gets it from the ME. Even if the U.S. still had "neutral" oil imports, price would be affected by global events.
That hasn't been true for years. Newer hybrids of both corn and yeast yield more ethanol per bushel of corn. The energy requirements come primarily from the distillation process, which can be fueled by using the biomass -- stalks, husks, cobs, and waste methane from manure. When you take into account the energy required to drill, ship, and refine oil, ethanol is roughly on a par.
And ethanol is renewable. Oil is a dead end.