William Tauzin: “Mr. Chairman, for a year now I have been fighting tires that kill. I am on the floor today fighting an amendment that…”

“Mr. Chairman, for a year now I have been fighting tires that kill. I am on the floor today fighting an amendment that will kill. If the Boehlert amendment passes, the National Academy of Sciences says that this kind of an increase in CAFE too soon, too fast over a 4-year period, 46 percent increase, will force automakers to downsize and downweight automobiles, trucks, light trucks in particular, SUVs and minivans. They tell us, ``Additional traffic fatalities would be expected.'' That is the National Academy of Sciences. Now, the bill contains reasonable increases in fuel savings, 5 billion gallons in this category of vehicles over the next 6 years. This is the language of the National Academy of Sciences warning us if my colleagues go further than the bill goes, my colleagues can expect fatalities. Mr. Chairman, I want to show Members the list of SUVs and vans regulated by the bill without this amendment. This is the list of all of the SUVs and vans that this amendment would literally replace in the law, sections that provide a 5-billion gallon savings in this list of vehicles. These vehicles alone consume 2.4 billion gallons a year. Our bill provides a savings of twice that, 5 billion. Keep to the bill. Do not kill Americans with this amendment.”