The now-infamous “Cash for Clunkers” program was supposed to run through the end of October, taking in old vehicles to be destroyed in exchange for a sum of money to be paid to the owner of said vehicle. But after just one week in operation, the appropriated funds have been extinguished.
The program — aimed at giving at boost to the U.S. auto industry — was supposed to expire at the end of October. But in the one week since it took effect, it appears to have run dry of the $1 billion allocated to it, aides said Thursday.
The White House will need to decide whether to push for more money at a time when it’s also pushing an ambitious and expensive domestic agenda — or let the program fade after it was touted as a way to help Detroit while improving the environment.
One Michigan Republican, Congresswoman Candice Miller, has alreayd come out in favor of extending the program, saying in a statement that “There can be no doubt that the Cash for Clunkers program is a complete success given the fact that the entire $1 billion allocated to the program was expended in less than a week.”
She called the program “simply the most stimulative $1 billion the federal government has spent during the entire economic downturn.”
It’s probably the only plan implemented by the Obama Administration that anyone with an objective and honest opinion can claim has been a success. But even at that, how did Congress and the administration make such a massive miscalculation? The funds were supposed to be able to sustain the program for a period of several months, but all of the money was gone within 7 days. Yet the latest miscalculation by our leaders in Washington.
Via Hot Air.
by Stephan Tawney on Thu, Jul 30, 2009