Pork alert! Senate may vote on cash for clunkers as early as tonight

When discussing GM’s bankruptcy yesterday, Obama again mentioned that he wants to have a cash for clunkers program (though he used the pseudonym “fleet modernization program”) in place soon to help GM through their bankruptcy. So the Senate seems to be jumping all over itself trying to get a c4c program approved ASAP. In fact, CNN Money reported yesterday and the Detroit News reported today that the Senate may staple it to a tobacco regulation bill headed for the Senate floor as soon as tonight. CNN Money reports:

Attaching an auto provision to a bill giving new power to the FDA to regulate tobacco products may seem unusual. But aides and industry experts say Democratic leadership recognize the sense of urgency to passing the auto subsidy, and the tobacco bill is headed for a full Senate vote.

So, in other words, it’s pork, pushed through under the guise of expediency.

The one silver lining in this news is that, apparently, SEMA’s lobbying efforts have gotten through to Sens. Stabenow and Brownback, the proponents of the Senate legislation: They’ve included a 25-year age limit on the clunker being traded in.

Senators Stabenow and Brownback included the stipulation to help safeguard vehicles that may possess “historic or aesthetic value” and are irreplaceable to hobbyists as a source of restoration parts.

So good news to fans of cars from 1984 or earlier. Thanks, SEMA, for getting that provision wedged in there. Fans of cars newer than that (and I maintain that future car collectors fall into this category), well, you’re still SOL.

UPDATE (3.June 2009): Not to underscore my comments made yesterday, but this bill with SEMA’s 25-year provision might very well be the best we can hope for. Ideally, yes, we’d want to see cash for clunkers tabled and forgotten about entirely, but with Obama pushing for it, we can’t imagine that’ll happen. So a bill with a 25-year provision will be far far better than a bill without.

Also, the formal name of the Stabenow-Brownback bill is S.1135, the Drive America Forward Act. The passage pertinent to our interests is Sec. 2(i)(7)(C):

(7) the term ‘eligible trade-in vehicle’ means an automobile or a work truck (as such terms are defined in section 32901(a) of title 49, United States Code) that, at the time it is presented for trade-in under this section–

(A) is in drivable condition;

(B) has been continuously insured consistent with the applicable State law and registered to the same owner for a period of not less than 1 year immediately prior to such trade-in;

(C) was manufactured less than 25 years before the date of the trade-in; and

(D) in the case of an automobile, has a combined fuel economy value of 18 miles per gallon or less;

UPDATE (4.June 2009): Looks like Stabenow’s bill has stalled, due to some procedural wranglings. Also looks like Feinstein continues to promote her alternate bill.