ADMINISTRATION: 'CLUNKERS' IMPROVING GAS MILEAGE

ADMINSTRATION: 'CLUNKERS' IMPROVING GAS MILEAGE

“Any deal that is made (Monday) or the next day and that is in the pipeline,...the dealer will be reimbursed and the car buyer will be reimbursed,” the secretary declared.

The program provides consumers with $3,500 or $4.500 in incentives for trading in gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient vehicles. Automakers were reporting July's auto sales on Monday and analysts expected the car program to provide a boost in overall sales.

Only the Senate can help at this point; the House last Friday voted for the money to be put into the popular program, and the House members have left on their summer recess. The Senate is scheduled to start its vacation by week's end.

At least one GOP senator questioned the need to speed the money.

“This is crazy to rush this thing through again while they're trying to rush through health care, and they want to get on to cap and trade electricity tax,” said Sen. DeMint, R-S-C. “We've got to slow this thing down.”

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said car and truck building had began to rebound even before the program got underway. But, he added, “there is no doubt that that very extraordinary response is a very important indicator that the state of confidence in the economy is beginning to pick up” If the incentive program had gone into place six months ago, he said, “it would probably have been a dud.”

Obama officials scrambled last week to add money to the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS), which is designed to get old, polluting vehicles off the road and scraped while helping car dealers emerge from the recession. The $1 billion has led to the sale of 250,000 new vehicles.

Owners of gas-guzzlers can received rebates of$3,500 or $4,500 towards the purchase of a new fuel-efficient car. LaHood said 62 percent of the traded-in vehicles were trucks and “these people are buying cars that get much better gas mileage.”

The program helped lift Ford Motor Co. to is first monthly sales increase in two years, the company's top sales analyst said Sunday.

July sales result mark the first year-over-year gain for Ford since November 2007 and apparently the first uptick by any of the six biggest car makers since last August, George Pipas said. He declined to disclose a specific totals before sales results are officially reported Monday.

“We having a good month—and Ford's been having some good months lately—but the (clunkers) program really put us over the top for sure,” Pipas said.

The Senate narrowly approved the initial money in June. But some lawmakers who voted for the plan, Including Feinstein and Collins, have said the additional dollars should push consumers to buy more fuel-efficient vehicles and allow people to buy fuel-efficient used vehicles. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N-M, has said he was concerned with the way the House paid for the extension, shifting $2 billion from a renewable energy loan program.

LaHood said dealers will be reimbursed for deals in the pipeline and that the government will make a “good -faith effort” for transactions beginning Monday.

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