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Obama Urges Congress to Revive 'Cash for Clunkers' Proposal

As he rolled out one last reprieve for the nation's troubled automakers, President Obama also restarted a legislative push that ran out of gas during last month's stimulus talks: a $10,000 rebate offer to car owners who traded in their old models for more fuel-efficient wheels.

The "cash for clunkers" plan was originally proposed by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tom Harkin (D-IA), at a total cost of about $16 billion. It was dropped from the stimulus amid GOP opposition, but Obama said today that he would "work with Congress to identify parts of the recovery act that could be trimmed to fund such a program and make it retroactive starting today."

Could that strong presidential endorsement give the rebate plan the momentum it needs to win quick congressional approval? Stay tuned...

Late Update:
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who sponsored a $4,500 version of the "cash for clunkers" rebate alongside Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), has just released a statement promising to work quickly on complying with the president's request:

Even the most dramatic of restructurings will only help the auto companies if more Americans decide to buy cars. It makes sense for the government to help increase demand by providing an incentive for cash-strapped consumers to buy a new car. For Americans who have an inefficient clunker sitting in their driveway, our bill would provide a better trade-in offer than they could get from most car dealerships. Now that the President has endorsed this 'Cash for Clunkers' proposal, we hope to move it through Congress quickly.

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Ten grand? So with my trade, I ought to be able to swing an almost free car out of the deal.

I wonder what the details of this cash-for-clunkers rebate were. Did the old car have to be more than X years old? Did you have to buy a domestic-branded vehicle? Did you have to buy something with better than X MPG? Did your old car have to eat X amount of gas in excess of what the EPA says the new one eats? There have got to be catches to be had in exchange for that ten grand.

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Anyway, so I looked at the article from money.cnn.com, and it appears that the car had to have been manufactured in the USA. That would probably exclude most cars in the Honda Civic class or smaller, since hardly any of them are built in the USA. Civics and Corollas are both built in Canada. My son's Focus, for example, was built in Mexico, and I can assume that all US Foci were built there. Ineligible. The new Fiesta? Ineligible. The godawful Cobalt? The even more godawful Dodge Caliber? Made in USA? Anybody know?

I think the average car buyer will have a hell of a time saving any gas at all under this plan, and will be stuck with only midsize or larger cars from which to choose. Somebody tell me I'm full of it. Please!

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durbin/harkin Senate Bill: s. 3737

(4) ELIGIBLE OLD AUTOMOBILE- The term `eligible old automobile', with respect to a trade for an eligible new automobile by an eligible individual under the Program, means a passenger automobile that--
(A) is operable;
(B) was first registered in any jurisdiction by any person not less than 10 years before the date on which such trade is initiated;
(C) is registered under such eligible individual's name on the date on which such trade is initiated; and
(D) was registered under such eligible individual's name before December 1, 2008.

(3) ELIGIBLE NEW AUTOMOBILE-
(A) IN GENERAL- The term `eligible new automobile', with respect to a trade of an eligible old automobile by an eligible individual under the Program, means a passenger automobile that--
(i) has never been registered in any jurisdiction;
(ii) was manufactured by an automobile manufacturer that has--
(I) operations in the United States, the failure of which would have a systemic adverse effect on the overall economy of the United States or a significant loss of United States jobs, as determined by the Secretary; and
(II) operated a manufacturing facility that produced automobiles or automobile components in the United States throughout the 20-year period ending on the date of the enactment of this Act;
(iii) was assembled in the United States; and
(iv) has a fuel economy that--
(I) is not less than 25 miles per gallon, as determined by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency using the 5-cycle fuel economy measurement methodology of such Agency; and
(II) has a fuel economy that is more than 4.9 miles per gallon greater than the fuel economy of such eligible old automobile, as determined by the Administrator using the 2-cycle fuel economy measurement methodology of such Agency for both automobiles.

(2) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL- The term `eligible individual' means an individual--
(A) who does not have more than 3 passenger automobiles registered under his or her name;
(B) who filed a return of Federal income tax for a taxable year beginning in 2007, and, if married for such taxable year (as determined under section 7703 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986), filed a joint return;
(C) who is not an individual with respect to whom a deduction under section 151 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is allowable to another taxpayer for a taxable year beginning in the calendar year in which the individual's taxable year begins;
(D) whose adjusted gross income reported in such return was not more than $25,000 ($40,000 in the case of a joint tax return or a return filed by a head of household (as defined in section 2(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986));
(E) who has not acquired an automobile under the Program; and
(F) who did not file such return jointly with another individual who has acquired an automobile under the Program.


sutton/braley/miller House Bill: H.R. 1550:

(A) $4,000 for a--
(i) passenger automobile assembled in the United States with a minimum highway label fuel economy value of 27 miles per gallon;
(ii) passenger automobile assembled in North America with a minimum highway label fuel economy value of 30 miles per gallon; or
(iii) nonpassenger automobile assembled in the United States with a minimum highway label fuel economy value of 24 miles per gallon;

(B) $5,000 for a--
(i) passenger automobile assembled in the United States with a minimum highway label fuel economy value of 30 miles per gallon; or
(ii) work truck assembled in the United States registered by the dealer as a registered work truck; or

(C) $3,000 for a nonpassenger automobile assembled in North America with a minimum highway value of 24 miles per gallon.

also:

(g) Transit Fare Credits- The Secretary shall promulgate regulations establishing criteria that allow operators of bus and rail public transit systems participating in the program to redeem from the Secretary the allowable value of transit fare vouchers properly issued by such operators to any person who is a registered owner of a high polluting automobile under this Act to offset the purchase price of annual or monthly transit passes or any other form of individual transit fare credit designated by the transit system operator. Participating transit system operators shall establish the terms and conditions for the ownership, use, and expiration of any transit fare credits acquired through the use of a transit fare voucher issued under this subsection. Such transit vouchers may only be issued by a person who is a dismantler or scrap recycler in lieu of vouchers issued under subsection (a) if a high polluting automobile of a registered owner is accepted by any such dismantler or scrap recycler, such owner transfers the certificate of title for such automobile to either such person, and such voucher includes the certification by such dismantler or recycler required by subsection (e)(3) of this section. The amount of any such voucher shall be $3,000. The Secretary shall electronically transfer funds to cover such vouchers to such operators.


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Very good questions Steaming Pile. I can't seem to find answers to them tho. Depends on the meaning of MADE IN U.S. --- exactly WHAT needs to be made here to count as made in America?

I guess we'll have to wait for a listing of cars that count.

Is the rebate AFTER the purchase or during the purchase (taken off purchase price) - thats another question to ask. If it's during purchase that would be GREAT. Even the $4500 would be a great help. Also - what counts as more fuel-efficient wheels? One that was giving you 21mpg to 30 or 45?

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Supposedly it is going to be over the next year.

I think that it is a really good thing to do.

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in the durbin/harkin senate bill the purchaser pays to the dealer the amount (if any) of the difference between the purchase price and the $10k. then the treasury reimburses the dealer.

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Hurry up already. My transmission is going.

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The German government has been running a program much like this one since the middle of January under similar circumstances; it gets people buying new cars to support German automakers and gets older less efficient cars off the road. I wonder if the US government would basically just cut you a check, or if there would be additional incentives to buy a car from an American automaker. It seems pretty likely that some sort of condition like that would be attached to the deal, because otherwise a lot of people would just flip it and buy a car from a non-domestic (notwithstanding that many of the "foreign" cars like Camrys or Accords are built in Kentucky and Ohio respectively).

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the durbin/harkin bill requires eligible new cars to have been assembled in the US.

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Can I get a Toyota?

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toyotas assembled in the US would be eligible.

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I have a 1991 Accord with 214,000+ miles on it. Give me a $10,000 rebate to trade it in and President Obama can pick the car he wants me to buy, hell he can even pick the color.

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.....and you get a car and you get a car, EVERYONE gets a car!

I want to see how and if the Republicans oppose this one.

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Geez...I was hoping for a pony.

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It's a form of low carbon-emissions transportation!

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You've never been around the back end of a horse.

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That's not carbon back there, though.

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It is, mostly - just not CO2.

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$10K will be considered much too high. The $4,500 will be much closer to the number if it gets passed.

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Republicans already DID oppose it -- took it out of original stimulus plan...remember?

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I forgot that the GOP took it out of the original stimulus.

Well it needs to be brought back.

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I've been wanting a plan like this, I'm thinking of a Pontiac VIBE, it has a US label, and is made in California on the same line as the Toyota Matrix. Out second car is a '98 Ford Escort (made in MX - not Detroit) with 80k on it, it's been pretty reliable, but the AC is shot and I hate to think of another DC summer without AC.

But what is to stop people from buying $100 junkers just to trade them in? Will there be a requirement as to how long you needed to own the trade-in, or how many miles you drove it in the last year? How will that be verified? And as stated above, how long must you keep the new car?

I love the plan as we could use the cash and would definitely use it, but I worry as a taxpayer it will get abused.

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eligible trade-ins would need to be operable and registered to the person trading it in.

the durbin/harkin bill also requires that the trade-in would need to have been registered to the same person prior to december 1, 2008.

the house bill would require the trade-in to have been continuously registered for 120 days prior to trade-in.

because the point is to get older, polluting cars off the road and replaced with newer cleaner cars, there is no requirement that you keep the car for any length of time - if you sell the new car, it's still on the road and the old one is still scrapped.

but there is a limit of one per person.

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the durbin/harkin senate bill requires eligible vehicles to have been assembled in the US.

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oops. was supposed to have been in reply to upthread.

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