[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 702]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           FLEET AND CLIMATE

  (Mr. HUFFMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HUFFMAN. Madam Speaker, improving the fuel efficiency of our cars 
and trucks is one of the most important things that we can do to fight 
climate change.
  Thanks to an executive order signed by President Obama, the Federal 
vehicle fleet is becoming more efficient. By 2020, it will reduce 
petroleum use by 30 percent, saving money and cleaning the air.
  But the United States Postal Service, which owns and operates the 
world's largest civilian fleet, is exempt from this critical effort; 
and it is headed in the wrong direction on fossil fuel consumption as 
141,000 of their vehicles, nearly three-quarters of their delivery 
fleet, are aging Grumman LLVs, the old mail truck that we see in our 
neighborhoods every day. Most get less than 10 miles to the gallon, and 
they are reaching the end of their operational life span. To save money 
and cut emissions, the postal service desperately needs a modern, 
efficient fleet.
  That is why I am introducing the FLEET Act, the Federal Leadership in 
Energy Efficient Transportation, in order to close the fuel efficiency 
gap between the postal service and other modern, fuel-efficient fleets. 
A quarter of our Nation's greenhouse gas emissions are emitted from the 
transportation sector. It is time to take our worst fleet and make it 
into our best fleet.

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