US President and Senate leader urge higher fuel economy standards
Wed 05 April 2006
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President Bush is to ask Congress for a clearer authority to raise US car fuel economy standards as part of a new energy bill. Mr Bush is supported by Senate majority leader Bill Frist.
The President's response is partly due to public anger over gasoline prices, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The US motor industry has resisted higher fuel economy standards, but the administration has said it will support higher levels only if it could restructure the overall Corporate Average Fuel Economy - CAFE - programme, which could otherwise help the US car industry.
Since 1990, fuel-efficiency standards for passenger cars have remained flat, at a fleet average of about 27.5 miles per gallon.
"The administration would oppose any increase in passenger-car CAFE standards without corresponding reform," the US Transport Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said in a letter yesterday to Senator Frist, quoted in the Wall Street Journal. "It is imperative that CAFE standards be set through an administrative process based on sound science and data."
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