[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5017]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   DON'T SHELVE FUEL EFFICIENCY RULES

  (Mr. HIGGINS of New York asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. HIGGINS of New York. Mr. Speaker, in 2009, when gas prices were 
very high and our dependence on foreign oil was at its peak, the 
Environmental Protection Agency set standards to increase fuel 
efficiency of trucks and cars. This helped achieve three main goals: It 
lessened the burden on consumers faced with high gas prices, addressed 
the urgent national security priority relating to our addiction to 
Middle East oil, and sought to limit the admittance of harmful fumes 
into our atmosphere.
  At the same time, we made unprecedented commitment to our auto 
industry, and in their most uncertain and darkest moment, facing 
collapse and bankruptcy, America bailed them out. We did this, and it 
came with political consequences, but we believe in their centrality to 
the future of the American economy, and we still do.
  That is why it is so disappointing to see the eagerness the auto 
industry has with this administration's choice to cave--and cowardly--
on fuel efficiency standards. Gas prices may be low now, but they won't 
be forever. It would be a misguided decision to shelve these fuel-
efficiency rules now.

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