Hemmings Auto Blogs

News comes today that the Obama administration and the House have reached some sort of agreement or compromise on cash for clunkers, and the vague news reports make it seem like this compromise has somehow paved the way for this bill. If the compromise simply means removing the clauses that stipulate the money is to be used for domestic cars only, then I can see how that’s the case; most of the political opposition to cash for clunkers plans came from foreign automakers and associations for dealers that sold foreign makes, so removing those clauses removes that slice of opposition. And from the $4,500 figure bandied about today, it appears that of the three cash for clunkers bills in Congress, the one they’re concentrating on is Rep. Steve Israel’s H.R. 520, the House counterpart to Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s S. 247.
What’s most disconcerting about today’s news is that there seems to be no vocal opposition to cash for clunkers on Capitol Hill. Sure, we have SEMA fighting the good fight, but they’ve been rather slow on the uptake lately. And as heard in a local NPR piece, there is opposition to cash for clunkers, but what steps is that opposition taking other than writing letters and opining into microphones?
Also, we want to welcome WebRidesTV into the anti-cash for clunkers campaign. So far, they seem to be the only other outlet (snark doesn’t count) that has taken a stance against cash for clunkers on the issue of automotive heritage. We hope more adopt the same stance rather than rub their hands in gleeful anticipation.
UPDATE (5.May 2009): John Voelcker seems to think our opposition to cash for clunkers is based on overblown fears.
As for a timeline, ABCNews seems to think cash for clunkers will fold into a larger climate change bill, which could be passed by the end of the year, if not sooner.