A group of Congressmen and women wrote a letter to the principal -- President Bush -- and told him not to pay attention to what the other students are saying. The sixty-four representatives requested that President Bush choose the house version of the fuel economy bill still being debated in Congress, not the Senate version.

The Senate bill was passed this summer that mandated 35 mpg by 2020 for both cars and trucks (the current CAFE standard is 27.5 mpg for cars and 22.5 mpg for trucks). That bill didn't include the 4% annual increases in CAFE standards after 2020 that senators wanted. The bill being presented in the House is the Terry-Hill bill, which would raise CAFE standards to between 32 and 35 miles per gallon, but keep standards separate for cars and trucks.

The Representatives wrote to Bush because the bill is not following the usual course, so they want to prevent any extra-Congressional agreement between the Senate bill supporters and the President. The Terry-Hill bill has the support of automakers and the UAW. With Senator Carl Levin working in the Senate to get his Big Three constituents taken care of, the final fate of the bill is far from decided.

[Source: Detroit News]

Sixty-four House Reps ask President to favor softer fuel economy bill originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Oct 2007 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.