Congress scrambles to fund "cash for clunkers" program

Citizen Times, August 1, 2009
Jon Ostendorff

Car dealers in Western North Carolina waited Friday for word on whether the government would pour an additional $2 billion into the popular "cash for clunkers" car purchase program.
Called the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS, the program offers owners of old cars and trucks $3,500 or $4,500 toward a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle, in exchange for scrapping their old vehicle.
The program was rescheduled to last through Nov. 1 or until the money ran out, but few predicted the fund would run out so quickly. The original $1 billion in funding was expected to generate up to 250,000 new car sales.
The U.S. House passed a bill Friday that shifted $2 billion from an energy loan program that was part of the economic stimulus plan passed earlier this year. The bill was approved on a vote of 316-109.
Getting Senate approval could be a bigger challenge.
Manger dealers didn't start selling under the program until Monday because of a lag in getting the rules from the federal government.
Within a week, the money was gone.
"We had a good time with it," said Tommy Waigand, manager of Hunter Nissan Lincoln Mercury in Hendersonville. "It has gotten a lot of people in off the street that wouldn't have come in to buy a car."
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