Senate Republicans push Cash for Clunkers off the Cliff

By Doug Hardin

The CARS, better known as Cash for Clunkers, program that was supposed to provide up to $4,500 to each person who trades in an old gas hog for a newer fuel efficient car may be headed for a crash because the Republicans have now decided to block refunding.

The original program was provided with a fund of $1 Billion that was supposed to carry it until about November. However, the program has been so successful that the funds have apparently been exhausted after only one long weekend. The administration has asked for at least $2 Billion more to keep the program active. Republicans are taking advantage of the summer recess to block additional funding using the recess as a tool to stymie voting.

Are they crazy? Their largest complaint by the Republicans about the recovery efforts initiated under George Bush and passed on to Barack Obama has been that, in addition to being too expensive, it was taking too long to get the money into action, the normal citizen is not sharing in any of the action and the program makes no sense.

So, along comes a program that gets over 1$ Billion out in a week, puts the money directly into citizens garages, creates jobs (somebody is going to have to build the approximately 250,000 cars sold last weekend), gets some CO2 belching gas guzzling iron heaps off the streets, makes everybody feel just a little bit better about the economy and has the premium benefit of getting a lotta folks a nice new set of greener wheels. I didn't think economic recovery could get any better, or faster, than that.

Apparently, the problem is that the Republicans didn't think of it first so if they can't take credit for it. I'm not exactly saying the Republicans are 100% the bad guys here because I'm fairly sure that, if the shoes were reversed, it would be the Democrats playing the part of the spoilers.

I'm really starting to have fonder memories of Tom Laughlin, the creator of the hero Billy Jack movies. Remember when he went to the leader of the motorcycle gang and said "Who's in charge here?" When the leader said, "I am." Billy Jack shot him and said again. "Who's in charge here?" The next bad guy steps up and says " You are."

Well, maybe we should send Billy Jack to DC. Be interesting to see what he might come up with