$2B Cash for Clunkers Supplement Signed Into Law; Funding Taken from Renewable Energy Loan Guarantee Program
08 August 2009
On Friday, President Obama signed into law H.R. 3435, which provides $2 billion FY 2009 emergency supplemental appropriations for the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Program (Cash-for-Clunkers, C4C).
The C4C program, which began in late July, encouraged a surge in auto sales, with the original $1 billion funding depleting in approximately one week. Edmunds.com calculated the Seasonally Adjusted Annualized Rate (SAAR) of auto sales in the last week of July surged to 19.6 million, with the SAAR for the month closing out at 12.5 million. Monthly SAAR had been below 10 million for the prior six months in 2009.
The top-selling model under C4C program was the Ford Escape, according to an Edmunds.com analysis. Edmunds.com included sales of all Escape models in its calculation. Government figures, which tallied individual model variants as separate vehicles, concluded that the Ford Focus was the top seller.
The additional $2 billion for the supplementary funding to keep the C4C program going is being transferred from the amount made available for Department of Energy--Energy Programs—Title 17—Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program in title IV of division A of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
In anticipation of the Senate passage of the bill earlier in the week, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen issued a statement, saying:
Simply continuing to put gasoline and other petroleum-based fuels in our gas tanks, even if less often, only perpetuates our reliance on oil too often coming from unstable regions of the world. The loan guarantee program being tapped to provide the cash for the clunkers is critical to bringing next generation biofuels and other renewable energies to the marketplace. Companies seeking to turn sugar waste and other cellulosic materials into biofuel, for example, were looking to this program as the security they need to take the risks that will accelerate the commercialization of their technologies. Now, those companies are forced to anxiously wait and see if Congress will replace those funds.
We support the efforts to improve fuel efficiency, and this program is a good step. But it should not come at the expense of technologies that will lead America away from petroleum all together. We strongly encourage Congress to replace the $2 billion borrowed at the first possible opportunity.
Funding Taken from Renewable Energy Loan Guarantee Program
Please be honest with the "reporting!" The money is being TAKEN from your children and grandchildren's future. The Obama administration is BANKRUPTING this country. Bush ran the deficit up high enough. Now Obaba/Reid/Pelosi want to burden our children with astronomical debt. Debt that they can NOT AFFORD to pay back. Obama/Reid/Pelosi are QUADRUPLING the deficit, turning the $25,000 that each tax payer owes into a $100,000 burden. What HEARTLESS people Obama/Reid/Pelosi are!!!
Posted by: The Goracle | 09 August 2009 at 05:03 AM
Goracle is right...to a point. However, look at the bang for the buck the clunkers program is providing to the economy. Just $3 Billion, less than the cost of an aircraft carrier, to entice people across the country to buy brand new cars that will help with energy independence (less influence from grubby middle east regimes) and emit less crud into the air. I totally support this CHEAP part of the overall stimulus program.
I think our country also needs a Cash For Demolished Property program. I live in Texas now, and have noticed that it is loaded with dilapidated structures that should be demolished. I support property rights, but you should not have the right to let your property turn into a s h i t hole that drags down the values of everyone around you. So I propose a Cash For Demolished Property program (could be done cheaply - $3 - $10 Billion) that pays everyone a generous amount (which varies by the size of the structures) to tear down dilapidated buildings / structures. Yes the taxable value for what's being torn down will go down, but the value of everything else with the new greenspace (or new construction to replace the old) will go up. This is an economic stimulus idea that doesn't promote suburban sprawl - but it promotes redevelopment of areas that have already been developed.
Posted by: ejj | 09 August 2009 at 09:42 AM
Is that like the $5 trillion, or rather $5000 billion that Bush took from your children and grand children as debt to give tax breaks to the rich, the war in Iraq and no bid contracts?
Posted by: SJC | 09 August 2009 at 10:33 AM
Another component of my Cash For Demolished Property program would be money for local code enforcement officers & offices (provided local governments enacted a modest amount of new ordinances & building codes if they didn't already do so). This actually dovetails into Obama's weatherization program and would have a strong stimulative effect to the housing market that needs a boost (like the auto industry does). America needs to be rebuilt, and Americans need to live according to some basic & enforced building codes. We are not a third world country nor should we tolerate third world living. YES WE CAN!
Posted by: ejj | 09 August 2009 at 01:03 PM
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Bold... away!!!
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Posted by: The Goracle | 09 August 2009 at 01:08 PM
What they don't tell you is that China has given us the money for the tax breaks and whatnot, and is either going to lose most of it in devaluations of the dollar or trade it to other suckers like African owners of oil or minerals. We don't care as long as the suckers aren't Americans. Do we?
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 09 August 2009 at 02:21 PM