By GottaLaff
Who's going to win this one, Big Oil or the Big Three?About 100 members of Congress who lease vehicles through their taxpayer-funded House allowance have been driving American cars, many of them gas-guzzlers like the Chevy Tahoe, the GMC Yukon, and even a handful of pricy Cadillacs. [...]
[M]embers of Congress may be choosing their new cars from a list of EPA-approved vehicles that's light on Big Three models and heavy on foreign competitors.
I'm keeping score. So far, Big Oil: 0, Big Three: 0. But Big Oil has the edge.
Rules in the House allow Congressional representatives to use taxpayer funds from an annual allowance (called their Member Representational Allowance, or MRA) to take out leases on vehicles for use in their home districts. The same practice is not allowed in the U.S. Senate.
126 representatives cost us taxpayers about a million bucks a year, but who's counting?
The cars they have been driving are almost all made in the U.S.A. Fewer than 20 of the MRA-funded vehicles are manufactured by foreign automakers.
The Big 3 just got a point. Take that, Big Oil.
[...] 19 were Chryslers, 38 were Ford models, and 52 were manufactured by GM. But some of the most popular Big Three cars in the Congress' fleet -- like the Tahoe, the Yukon and the Ford Explorer -- also have fuel efficiency ratings that are hardly eco-friendly.
Score one for Big Oil. It's 1-1 now. Anyone taking bets on a winner?
Many of the cars are also not cheap. Members face no restrictions on the monthly costs of the leases, which range from less than $200 a month to more than $1,100.
Hey, that's our money they're using! Congress 1, us 0.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, for example, drives a Lincoln Town Car for $726 a month; Rep. Charlie Rangel rides in a 2004 Cadillac DeVille for $777 a month; Maurice Hinchey of New York leases a 2007 BMW 530i and a Nissan Altima; and even Puerto Rico's Luis Fortuno, who will leave the Hill to serve as the island nation's governor next year, drove a Ford Expedition with a price tag of more than $1,000 a month.
My car's over ten years old and they're putt-putting around in fancy-schmancymobiles?
Steve Ellis of watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense:
“If members of Congress are allotting their own office budgets this way,” he asks, “what does that say about how they’re looking at the federal budget?"
I think federal budget oversight speaks for itself.
So, anyway, there's a new rule that mandates that "all vehicles leased on the taxpayers' dime meet EPA's qualifications for low greenhouse gas emissions."
Score one big point for environmentalists (and us).
Less than half of the cars being leased by House members in September made the cut.
Take the point back. That stinks.
What's more, less than one in three of the EPA-approved cars on the list are made in the United States.
The Big Three just lost one, too. It's now 1-0, Big Oil. In fact, make that 2-0, based on that whole "less than half" thing.
Of the 622 low-emissions vehicles suggested, only 175 are made in the U.S. by the Big Three American automakers. That's compared to 234 Japanese-made options and 143 German autos.
The Big Three is now at -1. I am now forming the "L for loser" sign on my forehead with my thumb and forefinger.
EPA officials will meet next week with members of the Missouri lawmaker's staff and the CAO to discuss the new regulations in advance of the 111th Congress. It’s unclear if that meeting will produce more formal guidance on which vehicle models will be acceptable for incoming freshmen.
But if you spot your newly-elected Congressman or -woman behind the wheel of a seven-seater luxury SUV, it's probably a good bet that they're not riding on your dime.
Big Oil 2, Big Three -1. The rest of us? Screwed.
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