Lesson number 213 on how to remain in the minority for a long time no matter how badly the Democrats drive the nation’s economy toward the event horizon of a fiscal black hole. Oppose one of the few popular things that Congress has managed to do with your tax dollars. If the Senate doesn’t agree to cough up another 2 billion dollars for the Cash for Clunkers program to match the House’s vote, it will be shut down.
Republicans say the problems with the program are another strike against the Obama administration as it pushes for a speedy overhaul of the health care system that would involve a government-run insurance program. They argue that government involvement in any industry is a recipe for disaster.
Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, said the “cash for clunkers” program was an example of the “stupidity coming out of Washington right now.”
Is two billion dollars a lot of money. OF COURSE it is. But sadly, compared to the amounts that Congress has been flushing this session, it has the appearance of chicken feed. And for all of the philosophical arguments you can make against it, people like it a lot. And in terms of stimulus, I’m afraid that it can be argued to be one of the few recent uses of tax dollars that’s actually doing some stimulating. Add to that the fact that it’s resulting in more fuel efficient cars going on the road and more heavily polluting, gas guzzling beasts being put out to pasture, and there’s too much political ammunition loaded up in its favor.
Charles Territo of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said:
Amongst Alliance members Ford reports a 9 MPG increase from trade-in vehicle to new vehicle purchase; GM reports a 54 percent increase in small car sales since the CARS program was launched; 57 percent of Mazdas sold so far under the program were highly fuel-efficient Mazda 3’s; 78 percent of Toyota’s CARS sales volume consists of the following vehicles — Corolla, Prius, Camry, RAV 4 and Tacoma, which average a combined 30 MPG; and Volkswagen reports over 60 percent of its CARS sales are clean diesel Jetta TDI’s which get an EPA combined 34 MPGs.
Assuming that half of the vehicles sold using the CARS program qualify for the 4 MPG-$3500 credit and the other half qualify for the 10 MPG-$4500 credit, CARS would provide an annual fuel savings of 45 million gallons of gasoline or an average gasoline savings of $450 a year for each new vehicle owner.
That equates to an approximate 500,000 ton reduction in carbon dioxide emissions greatly enhancing energy security and reducing greenhouse gases.
Arguments from people like Bill Kristol, who claim that these are just cars that “rich or middle class people would have bought anyway” aren’t going to hold water with the public. The GOP has rightly raised concerns in the minds of many over our ballooning deficit and reckless spending toward questionable purposes. When you decide that you have to go to the mat on anything the Democrats do and oppose a program like Cash for Clunkers, you’re giving up ground you had no reason to lose.
UPDATE: Here’s Transportation Sec. Ray LaHood on CSPAN explaining what will happen if the Senate doesn’t vote for more funding: