cash for clunkers

In June, when the Cash-for-Clunkers program — which provided a government subsidy to people who traded in older low-mileage vehicles to buy new, supposedly better-mileage vehicles — was humming to the tune of $1 billion, we wrote a piece warning that the program was hardly the environmental benefit its Capitol Hill supporters were claiming. Instead, [...]

Tales of clunker horror stories have consumer advocates worried the fallout will continue for months.

Of the $1.9 billion worth of vouchers submitted by car dealers under the “Cash for Clunkers” program, the Department of Transportation has sent payments totaling just $145 million, a senior administration official told reporters Thursday.
The official said the DOT has reviewed “just under 170,000″ of the 457,000 dealer submissions, but incomplete forms and other technical [...]

A senior administration official told reporters this afternoon that the White House has “no plan for seeking additional funding” for the popular “Cash for Clunkers” program, which the administration is shutting down next Monday at 8 p.m.
“The overriding objective was to be conservative and to provide an adequate window for a soft landing [for consumers [...]

From the just-released statement out of the Department of Transportation:
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Thursday that after a wildly successful run, the cash for clunkers program will come to a close on Monday, August 24th at 8 p.m. EDT.

Facing morning headlines that auto dealers are dropping out of the popular “Cash for Clunkers” program because the government hasn’t reimbursed the vouchers, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) fired off a letter to the Department of Transportation today urging administration officials to expedite their payments and provide dealers with “more certainty” that the money [...]

Even as it’s releasing frequent updates on the money being spent under the hugely popular “Cash for Clunkers” program, the Obama administration is still refusing to reveal details about what cars are being scrapped and sold.
The Department of Transportation released figures Wednesday indicating that, as of yesterday morning, more than 316,000 new vehicles have been [...]

When Congress rushed to pass a $2 billion extension of the enormously popular “Cash for Clunkers” program earlier this month, there were few cheerleaders more quick than President Obama to extol the environmental virtues of the program.
“This gives consumers a break, reduces dangerous carbon pollution and our dependence on foreign oil, and strengthens the American [...]

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) didn’t succeed Thursday in his effort to amend the cash for clunkers program to disqualify those drivers earning more than $50,000 a year. (In fact, he ended up pulling his own amendment after discovering a drafting error that the Michigan delegation wouldn’t let him fix.)
Is that fair to someone of my [...]

With the enormously popular cash for clunkers program soon to exhaust its $1 billion allotment, the Senate on Thursday passed legislation providing an additional $2 billion, which the lawmakers hope will see the program through the month.
The vote — 60 to 37 — came less than a week after the House approved the same proposal. [...]