On the recordAugust 1, 2001
Mr. Chairman, in 1974, the average for automobiles and light trucks in the United States was 12.9 miles per gallon. There was an energy crisis. In 1975, Congress responded. And they increased to 26.2 miles per gallon the fleet average. But believe it or not by 1981 they had already reached 24.6 miles per gallon, almost a doubling. Today, it is back to 24.7 miles per gallon. Our amendment, the Boehlert-Markey- Shays-Waxman amendment increases the average up to 27.5 miles per gallon, a 1.3-mile-per-gallon increase since 1987. We have deployed the Internet since then, the human genome project, the Soviet Union has collapsed. We are arguing for a 1.3-mile-per-gallon increase since 1987, by the way, equal to how much oil is in the Arctic wilderness if you want to avoid having to vote to drill in that sacred land.
Source
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