by John Finken

Created on: June 25, 2009   Last Updated: July 02, 2009

There are hundreds of millions of vehicles in the United States. Of these, an unnecessarily large portion receives less than 18 miles per gallon. And with the Friday, June 19, passing of the Cash For Clunkers program, these cars can be traded in for either a $3,500 voucher or a $4,500 voucher. This bill was sponsored by Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, who said, "This is an emergency for families and small businesses - for an industry that has been the backbone of our economy for a generation."

The bill was almost defeated in the Senate, but ended up passing, thanks to Democratic support. Another key part of the bill's passing was Obama's lobbying of the program. It is easy to misinterpret the program and believe its purpose is to decrease global warming, but it is actually to get more people buying American cars and helping to stimulate the economy. The increase in car mileage (thus a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions) is just a great added bonus to the plan.

The main reason this bill was created was to improve our auto industry, to give people who drive old cars a reason to go and purchase a new one from an American auto company. In purchasing an American auto, they give that company money which it can use to hire more workers. When these workers get paid, they go and spend their earnings on everyday products, which makes virtually every business in American happy. This is a good way to stimulate the economy because it doesn't have a large downside. The only downside is that the voucher must be paid for, and part of this will come from tax payers' money. Also, a used car cannot be purchased with the voucher, as purchasing a used car contributes no money to the maker of the automobile. Overall it is more than worth it because of what it is guaranteed to do for our economy.

So this bill is going to help get our economy back on the track it was on a year ago. But let's think about it. We will be recycling vehicles that get less than 18 miles per gallon to get money to buy a car that gets better gas mileage. This will help our environment too! By getting more miles per gallon of burnt fuel, we have to burn less fuel to go the same distance, meaning less greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, being put into the air and contributing to global warming.

The program will be implemented by the Department of Transportation at or before early August. They will create a website for both dealerships and consumers to get more information on how the program works The Department of Transportation will also certify dealers that are allowed to engage in the Cash For Clunkers program and they'll distribute the vouchers. Democrats and Republicans alike should be happy if not excited for this new program, as we will definitely see improvements in both our economy and air quality come August.

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