Russ Feingold: “I am voting in favor of the Levin-Bond amendment, and I want to explain my views in detail. Fuel efficiency is a…”

“I am voting in favor of the Levin-Bond amendment, and I want to explain my views in detail. Fuel efficiency is a critically important issue for our country, for my home State of Wisconsin, and for our future. I remain committed to the goal that significant improvements in automobile and light truck fuel efficiency can be achieved over an appropriate time frame. Some will argue that my vote for Levin-Bond is a vote against increasing the corporate average fuel economy, CAFE. I do not share that view. The Levin-Bond amendment seeks to renew the Department of Transportation's role in setting CAFE standards acting through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, part of the Federal Department of Transportation, DOT. If Congress does not act today to try to restore normalcy to the NHTSA process, Congress will always either block or act to set CAFE standards, every 20 years or so, when the political will is sufficient to do so. NHTSA will never be able to carry out the normal process of reviewing and incrementally improving fuel efficiency for automobiles and light trucks, as Congress originally intended when it passed the CAFE law in the 1970s. Both interest groups battling over the CAFE issue, the auto manufacturers and the environmental community, have switched their positions in this debate on this bill. The auto industry, who once wanted CAFE perpetually frozen with a rider, now support the Levin amendment.”