Cash for Clunkers Bill Update

Following the promise of an extra $2 billion for the Cash for Clunkers program, it now seems that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has the votes to allow the budget increase. This extra $2 billion will allow approximately half a million more Americans to use the Cash for Clunkers program.

It is thought that many Republicans apposed the plan for a budget increase; however Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell believed his party “would not block a vote”, and stated “The matter will be completed.”

With the initial $1 billion for the Cash for Clunkers program it was considered a great success and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood had this to say about the program “It’s worked very well,” he said. “In about eight or 10 days, the government has proved we can get money out the door and sell almost 160,000 cars and push about $600 million out the door in order to do it. This is a huge boost for the economy.”

The actual figure of transactions is said to be nearer 157,000 which is said to be worth $600 million to the market, out of these 157,000 transactions 83 percent of the vehicles traded in were gas guzzling SUV’s whereas 60 percent of the new vehicles purchased were passenger cars. According to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs this should result in an approximate increase of efficiency of around 61 percent.

According to figures released by car companies it seems that the most popular cars so far have been the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Dodge Caliber and the Toyota Prius hybrid which offers an approximate 46 miles per gallon. The Ford Escape is the only SUV on the list, his SUV offers approximately 32 miles per gallon.

The next stage for the budget increase to go ahead is to get the paperwork signed by President Barack Obama, once this is done it seems that car dealers will get the go ahead to continue using the Cash for Clunkers program.

For an extremely detailed look into the budget increase check out this link.

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