House GOP Still Attempting to Stall Oil-saving Standards
 
WASHINGTON (November 15, 2011) – The Obama administration is expected to soon release the proposed regulations that will guide automakers to eventually reach a fuel economy standard of 54.5 miles per gallon in 2025. Today, in the face of continued opposition from Congressional Republicans against the standards, Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and John Dingell (D-Mich.) and 105 of their Democratic colleagues in the House sent a letter to President Obama encouraging him to stay the course with the standards in order to increase national security by reducing the need for a total of as much as 3.8 million barrels of oil per day by 2030.
 
“The framework agreement brought together automotive manufacturers, labor, the environmental community, and government agencies.  Industry groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers praised the agreement as a ‘positive step.’  As a result, automakers will enjoy regulatory certainty, which will help them design and build the advanced technology vehicles of the future and compete in an increasingly global marketplace.  The agreement protects American jobs and consumers, and as such was a remarkable achievement,” write the members of Congress in the letter.
 
The letter is available HERE.
 
House Republicans, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (D-Calif.), have pushed to block the current fuel economy framework, and they have even passed legislation on the House floor that would prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from participating in the regulatory process despite the support for the administration’s proposal by thirteen automobile manufacturers, the United Auto Workers, and the environmental community.
 
Current co-signers: Markey, Dingell, Waxman, Van Hollen, Conyers, Levin, Frank, Berman, Slaughter, Brady (PA), Filner, Miller (CA), Velázquez, Ruppersberger, Carson, Kildee, Jackson (IL), Nadler, Towns, Moran, Lee, Speier, Langevin, Capps, Hinchey, Capuano, Ackerman, Farr, Keating, Honda, Olver, Quigley, Clay, Woolsey, Grijalva, Connolly, Kucinich, Visclosky, Serrano, Polis, DeLauro, Maloney, Baldwin, Lewis (GA), Doyle, Stark, Sutton, Cleaver, DeGette, Eshoo, Waters, Miller (NC), Hahn, Schakowsky, McNerney, Kaptur, Moore, Davis (CA), Garamendi, Holt, Blumenauer, McCollum, Sarbanes, McGovern, Gutierrez, Christensen, Tonko, Carnahan, Johnson (GA), Payne, Schwartz, Deutch, Sherman, Inslee, Hastings (FL), Price (NC), Wasserman Schultz, Holmes Norton, Pallone, McCarthy (NY), Edwards, Davis (IL), Tierney, Lowey, Doggett, Thompson (MS), Chu, Cummings, Linda T. Sánchez, Cohen, Peters, Peterson, Dicks, Carney, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Heinrich, Tsongas, Clarke (MI), Smith (WA), Ryan (OH), Thompson (CA), Pascrell, Cicilline, Pingree, Welch, Yarmuth, Rush, Lofgren, Lipinski, Fudge, McDermott

 
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