Senate salvages 'cash for clunkers' program
WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats narrowly defeated a GOP effort Thursday to kill a $1 billion "cash for clunkers" program that would provide government incentives of $3,500 to $4,500 to motorists who trade in old gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient vehicles.
Auto state senators said the program would help hard-pressed car dealers by bringing buyers into showrooms, and they got help from President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who made calls to wavering Democrats urging them to keep the plan alive.
"This is an emergency for families and small businesses — for an industry that has been the backbone of our economy for a generation," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who sponsored the proposal.
Opponents said it would increase the federal debt without doing much to get expensive-to-operate vehicles off the roads.
Supporters of the program overcame a procedural hurdle by the plan's leading opponent, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., on a 60-36 vote, winning the minimum number of votes needed to keep the program in a $106 billion war-spending plan.
Four Republicans —Kit Bond of Missouri, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Susan Collins of Maine and George Voinovich of Ohio — voted with two independents and 54 Democrats, while Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska opposed it, along with 35 Republicans.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., changed her vote to support the bill and spoke by phone with Obama during the vote.
Cantwell spokeswoman Ciaran Clayton said Obama "acknowledged Senator Cantwell's concerns that the cash-for-clunkers program ... did not do enough to meet our nation's urgent need to reduce foreign oil dependence" and vowed to work with Cantwell and others to "maximize the number of efficient cars on America's roads."
Obama has encouraged Congress to approve the consumer incentives for new car purchases as part of the government's efforts to restructure General Motors and Chrysler Group.
The auto industry and its union lobbied heavily for passage of the cash for clunkers plan as GM and Chrysler have received billions of dollars in government-led bankruptcies and the entire auto industry has dealt with plummeting car sales. In May, overall sales were 34% lower than a year ago.
