WASHINGTON–Sens. Tom Daschle, D-SD, and John Kerry, D-MA, conceded today that
they lacked the votes in the Senate to pass a major increase in the corporate
average fuel economy (CAFE) standards. Jerry Taylor, director of natural resour
ces studies at the Cato Institute, called it "a tremendous victory for
human health and the economy." He had the following comments:

"Environmentalists who supported an expansion of CAFE standards for
cars and light trucks are allowing their hostility to energy use to override
their common sense. For instance, the National Academy of Sciences reported
last year that the current standards are directly responsible for the deaths
of 1,300 – 2,600 motorists a year. That’s because automakers find that the
cheapest way of incr easing fuel efficiency is to reduce the size and weight
of the cars they sell, making them more dangerous to motorists in a crash.
Dramatically expanding CAFE standards would accelerate this trend and would
directly result in the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of Americans.

"While the costs of expanding CAFE standards is steep, the benefits
are ephemer al. Expanded standards certainly wouldn’t reduce foreign oil imports.
For instance, since the CAFE standards were first introduced, the average
fuel economy more than doubled for new cars and grew by more than 50 percent
for new light trucks, but imported oil has increased from 35 to 52 percent
of U.S. consumptio n. Reducing oil demand would remove the most expensive
oil sources from the mar ket first, and foreign oil is the cheapest oil supply
source in the world. Dome stic producers, not foreign oil producers, would
be hit hardest if gasoline demand were to decline.

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Activist update from the ACLU:

LAST CHANCE TO STOP DANGEROUS ANTI-TERRORISM BILL

Late Wednesday, the Washington House of Representatives passed Senate Bill
6704, the anti-terrorism bill formerly construed as House Bill 2879, and which
includes the language of the wiretap bill, HB 2416. The vote was 70 – 23, yet
it collected more "no" votes than last time the anti-terrorism bill
was before the House, and one of the "no" votes was actually mistakenly
cast but could not be changed.

This bill is now back before the Senate and we need your help to make sure
that it does not pass there! It seems likely at this time that the Senate is
prepared to vote "not to concur" with the changes the House made to
SB 6704. This Senate vote is scheduled for sometime on Saturday.

TAKE ACTION

We need all E-mail Activists to telephone and e-mail all of the Senate Democratic
leadership listed below, and any other Senator you know, or who directly represents
you. Please start making your calls and e-mails late Friday afternoon and continuing
on through Saturday morning.

Your brief message should be: "Please do not concur with the House amendments
to Senate Bill 6704. The House wiretap and terrorism language is overbroad and
dangerous to civil liberties." . . .

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Continue reading Last Chance to Stop . . . →