Fuel Bill Delivery Vehicle Pisses Off Michigan Representatives
The International Herald Tribune reports when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent the energy bill to the Prez for his John Hancock, it was delivered in a Toyota Prius owned by an employee with the Office of the Clerk of the House. Naturally, using a Japanese hybrid to deliver the bill pissed off two Republican representatives from Michigan. Rep. Candice Miller said it was done "just to demonstrate their complete disregard for the domestic auto industry." Rep. Mike Rogers echoed that sentiment, calling it a "slap in the face of every American auto worker." A staffer in Pelosi's office said the two were "merely attempting to distract from the success of the Democratic energy security legislation" and added that 95 House Republicans (fewer than half) supported the bill. He stopped short of saying "nanny-nanny-boo-boo." What I'd like to know is why a paper copy had to be delivered at all. After all, if the Democrats were that keen on conservation, they could have transmitted it electronically.
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Isn't the real question why Toyota was so far out ahead of Detroit in bringing Prius class vehicles into high volume production? Our tax dollars have been funding the "Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles" since 1993. The PNGV Challenge "Build a car with up to 80 miles per gallon at the level of performance, utility and cost of ownership that today's consumers demand." "In 1993 the U.S. government and the U.S. automotive industry joined in a partnership to establish U.S. leadership in the development and production of affordable, fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles that meet all customer needs. This partnership involves 7 federal agencies, the national laboratories, universities, suppliers and the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR); DaimlerChrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co., and General Motors Corp." http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/pngv.shtml That was 14 years ago, and yet today Detroit claims that the need for better fuel economy surprised them and that higher fuel economy standards will put them out of business. Too bad there is such a long paper trail to contradict them. Note that the actual new technology leaders in the US market are Toyota and Honda, which companies didn't participate in the PNGV taxpayer funded charade.
Actually, the bill was delivered by car because Congress doesn't trust the Postal Service.
KixStart: I'm pretty sure the President has a printer. & He would only have to print the signature page, if it were done properly. Or, they could adopt 21 CFR Part 11 which has all sorts of confusing requirements for electronic records and signatures.
Some people see conspiracies everywhere! Lighten up with the PC stuff...