James M. Talent: “Missouri is an auto State. Each year the hard-working employees of six assembly plants produce well over 1 million cars…”

“Missouri is an auto State. Each year the hard-working employees of six assembly plants produce well over 1 million cars and light trucks that are shipped around the country. In fact, we have 221,000 auto-related workers in Missouri. There are 6.6 million autoworkers around the country. I raise the question: What happens to our automobile economy, what happens to the workers, what happens to the people who buy them, what happens to the people on the highways if suddenly our auto manufacturers are forced to make unreasonable changes in fuel economy standard? When enacted, CAFE established a 14.6-mpg level for combined car and light truck fuel economy. That level increased to 17.5-mpg in 1982 and to 20.7-mpg in 1996. Since the early 1970s, new vehicles have continued to become more fuel efficient. According to the EPA data, efficiency has increased steadily at nearly 2 percent per year on average from 1975 to 2001 for both cars and trucks. Fuel economy rates in cars have more than doubled in the past generation, from 14.2 miles per gallon in 1974 to more than 28.1 miles per gallon in 2000. Today's light truck gets better mileage than the compact cars from the 1970s. This bipartisan approach, offered by Senator Levin and the Senior Senator from Missouri, Kit Bond, increases fuel economy. It does it in a way that also allows the domestic manufacturing industry in our U.S. economy to thrive as well. The two are not mutually exclusive. We can accomplish both goals.…”