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April 28, 2006
The President and Fuel Efficiency Standards
According to CNN, the President wants to have the power to set fuel efficiency standards,
Bush called on Congress to give him the authority to set the standards for passenger cars sold in the United States as a means of reducing the nation's demand for gasoline."I encourage them to give me that authority," Bush told reporters during a visit to a service station in Biloxi, Mississippi. "It's an authority I used for light trucks, and I intend to use it wisely if Congress will give me that authority."
I think we do need to set increasingly more demanding standards for fuel efficiency for cars and trucks sold in the United States. But what I don't understand is why the President wants the authority to do this himself. Or perhaps I really do understand it.
Why doesn't he order the Department of Energy or the Department of Transportation or whatever arm of the Administration is most relevant to prepare legislation that would set such standards at the level he thinks appropriate and send it to Congress along with the proper analysis of the impact of the proposed standards on fuel cost and availability, the environment and industry? And then let Congress publicly debate the issue and approve the proposed legislation or whatever modified form it takes at the conclusion of the debate. Perhaps the Administration could act more rapidly than Congress to address changing requirements but this Administration has not shown any capabilities in that direction that doesn't involve war and I don't want any Administration to be able to dictate this or much else without open public debate. I also do not want any such decision made without the factual basis for the decision being known and discussed.
And I sure do not want to give more power to an Administration that, in my view, has misused the legitimate authority it already has and asserted additional authority that it should not have. Congress is the place for these kinds of decisions, not the Administration.
Posted by Duane Smith at April 28, 2006 11:26 AM | Read more on Current Events |
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