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Majority leader confident senators will vote to extend government’s popular automobile rebate program.
WASHINGTON — The Senate will vote to extend the popular “cash-for-clunkers” program before going home on Friday, Majority Leader Harry Reid declared Tuesday in a strong signal the government won’t let the trade-in rebates die under the surging demand that has almost exhausted federal backing.
Reid’s GOP counterpart, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, predicted his party would not block a vote and “the matter will be completed.” Republicans were still demanding a chance to amend a House-passed version that would extend the program into September, but Democrats were confident the bill wouldn’t be changed.
“We’ll pass cash for clunkers before we leave here,” Reid said after Democrats lunched at the White House with President Barack Obama, who has pushed hard for the Senate to go along with the House in adding $2 billion to the program’s original $1 billion.
Buyers of new cars and trucks have swamped formerly deserted auto dealers to claim their rebates — up to $4,500 when they trade in older models that get significantly worse gas mileage. The older vehicles are then scrapped.
The program has encouraged about a quarter-million Americans to buy new cars at time when the economy is still in recession and badly needs a boost.
Because the House has already recessed for August, any change by the Senate would effectively interrupt the rebate program until Congress returns in September. Consumers who don’t get in on a deal this week would have to wait until then to take advantage of the rebates, assuming eventual passage.
“I think the last thing any politician wants to do is cut off the opportunity for somebody who wants to get a rebate to buy a new automobile,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Illinois, said Tuesday.
The new money would carry the program through September, said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.