I don’t usually get angry enough to try to write my Congressmen and get friends and family involved on a political issue, but the version of "Cash for Clunkers" that made it through the House infuriates me.
Here is the provision in the bill that gets my goat: "Owners of sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks or minivans that get 18 mpg or less could receive a voucher for $3,500 if their new truck or SUV is at least 2 mpg higher than their old vehicle. . . . A group of senators led by California Democrat Dianne Feinstein were pushing an alternative version that would require consumers to trade up for more fuel-efficient cars and trucks to qualify. They complained that even a 2009 Hummer H3T, which gets 14 mpg in city driving and 18 mpg on the highway, could qualify for the incentives under the House bill." (Seattle Times)
In other words, if this thing passes, my tax dollars can be used to pay someone to buy a gas-guzzling Hummer just because they previously chose to own an even more gas-guzzling vehicle.
This provision surely demonstrates that this is not an environmental bill. It is yet another example of Detroit leading Congress along by the nose as they have for decades – at the expense of the public interest. Even at this late hour, when GM is going belly up and we are bailing them out, we are still subsidizing their ability to move vehicles off the lot that were not only bad business decisions, but harmful in their impact on both the environment and our national security (through continued dependence on foreign oil).
So . . . I’m finally getting off my duff and writing my Senators and Representatives, asking them to at least consider the broader public benefits of the Feinstein bill.