Andrea Joy Campbell: “Colleagues, section 822 is a bad idea. Under section 822, we are going to allow the DOE to give grants to take…”

“Colleagues, section 822 is a bad idea. Under section 822, we are going to allow the DOE to give grants to take 15-year-old, and possibly more, fuel-efficient cars, which would rarely be driven, off the highways and then turn around and offer another grant of taxpayer-funded money to people who want to purchase a new car which may be less fuel efficient than the ones to be taken off the highway and will probably be driven more because they are newer. How do we sell that under the guise of fuel efficiency? States have the ability to have scrappage programs--many do. Some offer between $1,000 and $2,000 per car to be scrapped. In the suggested grant to take older cars out of circulation, if one-fourth of the 38 million cars 15 years or older were funded, it would cost taxpayers $19 billion. Maybe I am missing something, but I did hear we have lost our huge surplus of last year and may, in fact, be in deficit this year. It seems to me we have a better place to use our money. This is not the time to spend $19 billion. The authors of the section 822 say it is voluntary, but who will turn down a potential $1,000 to turn in an old car and another $1,000 of taxpayer money to buy a new one when someone else is paying? I ask my colleagues to vote down section 822 at 4:30. As Senators, we have an obligation to make decisions based on information.…”