Mike Levin: “first let me thank Senator Bond for his work on this amendment, which offers an alternative, a rational alternative.…”

“first let me thank Senator Bond for his work on this amendment, which offers an alternative, a rational alternative. This alternative would allow the agency that is the expert to weigh all the factors that should go into a rulemaking and to raise CAFE standards in a logical and rational and scientific way rather than a totally arbitrary way, which is what the Durbin amendment does. Of course, we want to raise CAFE standards. We want to do it in a way that protects the environment and protects jobs in America. But we do not want to do it in a way that will not protect the environment and will destroy jobs in America at the same time. We need to improve fuel economy, but how we increase it is critical. That is the main point I am going to make. You need to do it, but how we do it is critical. The question is whether we are going to do it through a rulemaking on the part of an agency looking at all the relevant factors, and I am going to list them in a moment or whether we are going to just pick a number out of the air. The number of the Senator from Illinois is 40--just go to 40 miles per gallon on the fleet and at the same time, by the way, just add trucks to the car fleet for the first time. It is not just cars now that have to get to 40 miles per gallon under the proposal of the Senator, but we add minivans and sport utility vehicles to that fleet--and it is done arbitrarily.…”