SOUND OFF! U.S. Transportation Secretary Favors ANOTHER Cash For Clunkers Program How About You?

Will there be another Cash for Clunkers program to help jumpstart the auto industry, and the economy, this year? U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was here to launch the 2010 North American International Auto Show. He likes Cash for Clunkers, but insists a rerun in '10 will be left up to Congress.

"This was the most wildly successful program ever, selling 800,000 cars in less than 30 days," he said. "You see no criticism of Cash for Clunkers in America."
Save for a fringe group of tea partiers gathering in the snow outside Cobo Hall, LaHood's appearance created no controversy. He emphasized that it's up to Congress to revive C4C, and wouldn't entertain the notion that his Transportation department and the administration might lobby for it later this year, even as he talked up the program to the press.

Still, despite handing off the issue to Congress, there have been rumblings that the Obama administration may push to relaunch the program again, by this spring or summer, after Americans get their tax returns. The administration would be working to make this year's C4C model simpler, and probably a bit cheaper, with lower tax incentives than the '09 program.

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