House OKs Weak Clunkers Bill, Senate is Next; There's Little Hope For Greener Plan
By John O'Dell June 9, 2009
Well, the House finally approved its Cash for Clunkers bill, a measure aimed - badly, we believe - at increasing new car and truck sales by paying people more than their older, less efficient vehicles are worth to surrender them for crushing.
The idea sounds like it has good green credentials, but it isn't likely to move the needle very far: Some truck owners would be able to trade in older models for new ones that actually get the same or less mileage than the clunker.
A 16 mpg 2009 Hummer H3 would qualify for incentives under the measure,
And the maximum payment for a trade-in, $4,500, isn't going to go very far in helping most people who've been driving clunkers move up to a new car (although, to be fair, the trade-in vouchers can be used in addition to any incentives being offered by dealers and manufacturers).
Fortunately, the bill still has to be approved, or altered, by the Senate.
Unfortunately, senators seem little interested in either increasing the financial incentives or the bill's green footprint.
Perhaps a landslide of cards, letters and phone calls from concerned voters could help - there is a greener bill in the Senate that's been covered in Green Car Advisor - but it is likely too late.
Sen Diane Feinstein, a co-sponsor of the greener bill - S. 1200 - said today that she doesn't believe she's got the votes to out-muscle Sen. Debbie Stabenow's competing clunker bill, which mirrors the version just passed by the House.
That's too bad. By the time a final measure is signed into law, the year will be half over, the economy will be starting - albeit slowly - to improve and the whole idea of a bill to spur car sales may be moot.
That is why we at Green Car Advisor think Cash for Clunkers ought to return to its roots - a bill to retire gas guzzlers and gross polluters and replace them with cleaner, more efficient cars; not merely measure to move sheet metal off dealers' lots.
Click the link below for a comparsion of the three measures.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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This is great news! Let's move sheetmetal and bolster our automotive industry. Forget the "green" nonsense. We have this thing in America called freedom of choice (For now anyway...), embrace it. ;)
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