Senate Vote Approves $2 Billion for CARS
Today CSPAN covered the Senate debate on the Cash for Clunkers spending bill. The Senate approved a $2 Billion dollar funding bill for the popular NHTSA CARS program. The funding will sustain the CARS program through the Labor Day weekend; not much longer.
The funding bill passed by a 60-37 vote.
Consumers are encouraged to get out of shop for a new car as soon as possible to avoid being stopped out of the Cash for Clunkers program. Dealers have been blessed with heavy floor traffic and interest in the CARS program but the money will not last forever.
Car Buyers Checklist
Consumers are advised to prepare for the program requirements BEFORE going to a local car dealers
- Download our Cash For Clunkers Checklist
- Using our checklist, go to www.cars.gov and qualify your clunker.
- Understand that if you don’t qualify, your local dealer cannot change the rules.
- If you want a local dealer to contact you, complete the form on the left or you can call ANY local dealer to see if they have the car you want in stock.
- Review all factory rebates that may be added to your CARS credit. Check our list
- Negoitate your best deal.
- Keep in mind that you may not be able to drive away with your new car untill all your paperwork is approved by the government.
Get out and purchase your car in August to make sure that you can take advantage of the program before it runs out of cash.
Memorable Moments from Senate Coverage on C-SPAN
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| Senator Richard Shelby says the Cash for Clunkers program is a “clunker”. He claims that many clunkers that were traded in would have been traded in normally without any stimulus needed. | Senator Johnny Isakson is an advocate for a Home Buyer Tax Credit plan to help stimulate the housing and real estate industry. Refers to Cash for Clunkers as a successful program and wants a similar plan for housing. | |
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| Senator Debbie Stabenow encouraged the Senate to continue the stimulus bill saying it is a tangible program that consumers can see and feel. She calls the bill a winner. She also asks that no ammendments be adopted which would derail the bill since House is out of session. | Senator Carl Levin urged the Senate not to add any ammendments to the House Bill which would put the death spike in the heart of the Cash for Clunkers Bill. He pointed out that many good amendements would have to be considered when the Senate returns in September. | |
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| Senator Jon Kyl wanted to introduce an amendment that would put the CARS program on hold to review spending and make sure deals that were submitted get paid. If the amendment was approved the CARS funding bill would be killed. | Senator Judd Greg claims that his amendment would make sure that the $2 billion in CARS funding debt is not passed to our children. If the Gregg amendment was approved the CARS $2 billion funding bill would have been killed for immediate future. | |
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| Senator Tom Coburn’s amendment proposed to give the clunkers to the poor and not to crush them. If his amendment was approved it would have killed the Cash for Clunkers spending bill since the amendment would require a House vote. | Senator David Vitter proposed an amendment on the TARP program which has nothing to do with the CARS program but any new amendments introduced today would kill the Cash for Clunkers funding measure. |
Tags: cash for clunkers funding, senate vote, senator carl levin, senator Jon Kyl, senator richard shelby, senator stabenow
20 Responses to “Senate Vote Approves $2 Billion for CARS”
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Senate voting record from yesterday. See how your Senators voted on ths $2 billion in funding
http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.com/bill/senators-voting-for-cash-for-clunkers-funding
I have a class 2 van with less than 14 mpg and want to trade it for a class 1 Prius. I am told that this does not qualify. I thought we were trying to get clunkers off the street.
Here is a link for the voting record from the senate.gov website – http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00270
Harden -> “Ohio – you don’t get it. The government system that the dealers must use to apply for the vouchers is so fraught with problems that the government doesn’t even know yet how much they are really spending.”
How can that be true? This is change I can believe in. The administration says they want transparency and full disclosure in their programs. If this ship was headed for an iceberg, they would tell us…right?
I guess I was lucky. I signed on 7/27 and drove off in my new car.
Ohio – you don’t get it. The government system that the dealers must use to apply for the vouchers is so fraught with problems that the government doesn’t even know yet how much they are really spending. The $3 billion is already gone. The next $3 billion is already gone. How much more after that is already gone???
I think as a fun thing to do, this website should hold a contest – submit what you think is going to be the total cost (maybe to the nearest $10,000 or so) of the program, once all is said and done, and then we’ll see who gets bragging rights as the I Told You So king or queen once the government totals up the vouchers.
If someone can locate the voting record for yesterday I will create a page and post
Brian
Harden -> “The $3 billion put in so far is a joke…”
It’s driving me nuts to the news media report the additional $2B of funding lasting through Labor Day weekend.
I’m thinking to myself… “They’ll be lucky if it lasts through the next few days!”
To Ohio Greg – you have nothing to fear. When the dust settles on this thing, without a doubt the total cost of the bill will be well over $3 billion. Total cost could easily be closer to $10 billion. The $3 billion put in so far is a joke. So, as the saying goes, don’t worry, be happy!
June says:
…95 “clunker” deals as of Weds
…about 20 of those still unsubmitted
…have yet to be paid on ANY
…submitted as far back as July 28th
…Every dealer I have talked to is in the same boat
Thanks for posting your experience, June! That is my fear…that this thing is so massively over-spent that they’ll need MORE money just to make all the dealers whole in the end.
Keep us posted!
Now Dealers, remember how your Senator(s) voted and make sure you remember that when and if they run for re-election.
FYI, for Tennessee, both Alexander and Corker voted AGAINST funding.
Maybe this site should publish the individual votes so we can keep it in mind on election day.
I totally agree with “Reality check”
We have done 95 “clunker” deals as of Weds., with about 20 of those still unsubmitted. We have yet to be paid on ANY of these. Some of these were submitted as far back as July 28th, and here it is the 7th of August and still no word.
My guess is the whole 3 billion is already spent- they are just so far behind in processing that they don’t even know it yet. Every dealer I have talked to is in the same boat- tons of money tied up with no payment from the government yet.
April,
We wrote our deal on 7/27 and picked our car up yesterday. I know how you feel …. Waiting just stinks. Good luck and hang in there.
President Obama should be voted the best brain of the year for the cash for clunkers program. I believe this is the first time this has ever happened in the history of the auto industory. As he plans to globalise the scheme and make it a permanent economic policy, covering the whole world, car exports will really be in good health, and will create more job opportunities.
April,
Please be patient. Your dealer wants you driving your new car as much as you do. We really don’t know. I have July deals (submitted on or about 7/24) that still haven’t seen the voucher.
Provided your papers are in order (almost sounds KGB) you’ll be fine. Hang in there and know that you are not being ignored. This is as challenging for dealers as it is for customers. But rewarding to be sure.
Those of you in the business, how long is it usually taking? We did all the paperwork on Monday, August 3rd.
“The lack of a planned “timeout” is of concern.”
I agree. Maybe they’re afraid that a “timeout” is admitting that they are overwhelmed. But the alterntive (an impending crash of the CARS program) certainly won’t be any better.
O.G., Like your analysis. I would also opine that the program is likely short-lived. The lack of a planned “timeout” is of concern. While NHTSA has reportedly farmed out a lot of the processing to subcontractors, such as Citi, there is cause for concern for the donkey’s ability to keep pace with the thoroughbreds.
Nevertheless, I would like to believe that, under NHTSA’s charter, it is well within the Agency’s scope of authority to “administer” the program inclusive of holding pattern implementation. Unfortunately, there is no real time-line, at present, for dealers to calibrate their activity.
Hell, we’ll be out of inventory anyway. It may not even matter.
This is “Flash-in-the-Pan 2″ with twice the excitement of the original — Now showing at a dealer near you.
I am preparing for a long weekend.
REALITY CHECK…
$2B is barely enough to keep this program on life support for the next week…
$3,000,000,000 of total CARS funding
20,000 registered dealers
$4200 average rebate amount so far
That breaks down to just 36 CARS vouchers per dealer.
If the average dealer has done just 2 deals per day for the last 11 days (an extremely conservative estimate?), that’s 22 vouchers per dealer already gone.
Continuing at the rate of 2 CARS deals per day, the entire $3B will be gone SEVEN DAYS from now.
Think about this…
If 20,000 dealers each made 3 clunker deals a day since July 24th, that’s $2.7B worth of vouchers! I sure hope the government has a clue what they’re doing.
THE CRASH IS COMING…
Voucher processing is a week (or more) behind at this point and will never catch up. When CARS suddenly runs out of cash, what happens to the thousands of pending cars deals caught in the voucher process pipleline????
It is done. H.R.3435 Passes!
Get in, sit down, shut up and hang on!
But first, your papers, please.