Political Quotes

“I follow up on a point. There was an old saying during debate of the Clean Air Act, a belief that once we established standards for clean air in America, it was said as a result of that Government decision, the people in the automobile industry in Japan went out and hired an army of engineers to figure out how to make their cars cleaner and more fuel efficient. The people in charge of the American automobile industry went out and hired an army of lawyers to fight the regulations at every possible level. That is an oversimplification. But I want to say to the Senator from North Dakota that 8 years ago, during the Clinton-Gore administration they said to Detroit: We want you to sit down and work on a more fuel-efficient automobile that is safe for families. We are prepared to make certain that you do not run afoul of any antitrust violations. We want you to come together, the big three, put your heads together with your best creative talent and come up with that automobile, come up with that SUV, come up with that truck. They gave them that assignment. They moved forward with it and they hoped for the best. Let's take a look at where we are today. Today the only vehicle I know of that is on the road that offers fuel economy over 50 miles a gallon in a car that is of normal size is, sadly, from Toyota Motor Company. It is a model called the Prius.”