If we’re talking about Congress (which, IIRC, would be the body that actually instigates changes to the CAFE standards), then that was Republican-controlled for the majority of the '90s. Newt Gingrich and all that.
So those same republicans then get credit for the budgets that were passed, and all other prosperity in the 90s as well correct? The republicans in charge now HAVE raised the CAFE standards for light trucks and will be raising them again next year.
All I am saying is that this is not an R / D red/blue issue. To lower it to that level solves nothing.
I dunno – are budgets and CAFE standards set solely by Congress? Or do they get submitted by Congress and approved/vetoed by the Executive? In short, are we comparing apples to apples?
Well, noone can know for sure what the Clinton Administration would have done if they had been able to…Surely, their environmental record was mixed. **However, the Administration was not able to raise CAFE standards for most of its administration because the Republican Congress specifically forbid it to do so in funding authorizations. **Here is the story as of September 1998:
Good question, I really don’t know. CAFE looks like a hot potato that nobody wants to touch. I can’t beleive that the standards for light trucks have actually been increased during this administration.