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Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about an issue of critical importance to the families in my State. Throughout Michigan, men and women are working hard every day to produce the cars that make our economy and our Nation move. They and their families depend on the jobs produced by our automobile manufacturing industry, just as the rest of us can depend on the cars they produce.
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But those jobs in Michigan's economy are jeopardized by efforts to increase the standards for Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE. I have come to the floor today because I want to make certain that my colleagues are aware of the extremely serious impact of increased CAFE standards, not just on Michigan but on every State in the Union. I also point out that these punitive measures will be ineffective and fly in the face of ongoing efforts on the part of our automakers to increase fuel economy, efforts that promise to produce fruit in the very near future.
The Federal Government currently mandates that auto manufacturers mandate a fuel economy of 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and 20.7 miles per gallon for sports utility vehicles and light trucks.
Since 1995, Congress has wisely refused to allow the Federal bureaucracy to unilaterally increase these standards. We have recognized that it is our duty as legislators to make policy in this important area of economic and environmental concern.
Now, however, I understand that a number of colleagues are calling for an end to this congressional authority. They are calling on the administration to unilaterally increase CAFE requirements for sports utility vehicles and light trucks to 27.5 miles per gallon.
This action is misguided. It will hurt the working families of Michigan. It will undermine American competitiveness. I want to put the Senate on notice that I will use every legislative means at my disposal to see that it does not happen.
CAFE requirements costs jobs with few tangible positive affects. It really is that simple.
Let me explain what I mean.
To meet increased CAFE requirements, SUVs and light trucks would have to be dramatically reengineered. Auto makers would be forced to implement and design radically new engine and autobody changes. Such changes would be enormously challenging, and would be reflected in decreased power and carrying capacity, coupled with an increase in price. The result would be a less desirable automobile. It would spell the doom of the line vehicles which are largely responsible for the resurgence and continued success of American automobile industry.
Of course, this is precisely the goal of CAFE advocates: reduced public demand and consumption of this line of vehicle, but it is an unwise course.
A government engineered campaign to steer the public away from the sport utility market, one which the U.S. producers dominate, will also be of enormous benefit to overseas competitors.
The fact is, the U.S. dominates the light truck market because sky-high gasoline prices in countries such as Japan have forced foreign auto makers to make smaller, lighter cars.
This matters because CAFE requirements are averaged over a producers entire fleet of vehicles. Since the Japanese auto producers produce relatively few light truck models, these producers will have to make no changes in vehicle capacity or production in order to meet U.S. CAFE requirements.
Thus, foreign producers would avoid the cost and challenge of modifying their fleet fuel economy averages. And that means the government, not the market, will have placed an uneven burden on American workers.
Consumers also suffer when their choices are narrowed. And auto makers and their employees suffer when they are forced to make cars the public simply does not want.
In a statement before the Consumer Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, Dr. Marina Whitman of General Motors notes that in 1982: ``we were forced to close two assembly plants which had been fully converted to produce our new, highly fuel-efficient compact and mid-size cars. The cost of these conversions was $130 million, but the plants were closed because demand for those cars did not develop during a period of sharply declining gasoline prices.''
This story could be repeated for every major American automaker, Mr. President. And the effects on our overall economy have been devastating.
During this time of economic prosperity, it is easy for some people to forget the massive dislocation of workers which occurred during the 1970's and 1980's.
But we should keep in mind, not only the thousands of jobs in the auto manufacturing industry that were lost during this period, but also the massive impact this downturn in a key industry had on our economy as a whole.
The story of plant closings were devastating for domestic automakers back in the 1970s and 1980s.
It is unfortunately the case, sometimes when we are in a period of economic prosperity, as we are now, it is easy to forget the massive dislocation of workers which did occur back at that time.
We should keep in mind not only the thousands of jobs in the auto manufacturing industry that were lost during that period, but also the massive impact that downturn in a key industry had on our economy.
The American auto industry accounts for one in seven U.S. jobs. Steel, transportation, electronics, literally dozens of industries employing thousands upon thousands of Americans depend on the health of our auto industry.
If we do again to our auto industry what was done to it during the 1970's and 1980's, we will quickly see our current prosperity turn to an era of significant unemployment, in my judgment.
Mr. President, the last thing our economy and our people need is a repeat of those hard times.
Our automakers simply cannot afford to pay the fines imposed on them if they fail to reach CAFE standards, or to build cars that Americans will not buy. In either case the real victims are American workers and consumers.
Nor should we forget, Mr. President, that American automakers are investing almost $1 billion every year in research to develop more fuel efficient vehicles.
Indeed, we do not need to turn to the punitive, disruptive methods of CAFE standards to increase fuel economy for American vehicles. Especially since domestic manufacturers have increased passenger car fuel economy 108 percent and light truck fuel economy almost 60 percent since the mid-1970s.
And more progress will soon be realized. Since 1993, the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles has brought together government agencies and the auto industry to conduct joint research--research that is making significant progress and will bridge the gap to real world applications after 2000.
By enhancing research cooperation, PNGV will help our auto industry develop vehicles that are more easily recyclable, have lower emissions, and can achieve up to triple the fuel efficiency of today's midsize family sedans. All this while producing cars that retain performance, utility, safety and economy.
By next year, Mr. President, technologies developed in the PNGV program will be incorporated into concept vehicles. These vehicles will help the auto industry determine their functional benefits, develop production infrastructure and determine commercial viability.
By 2004 we will have production-feasible prototypes that can be brought to mass production within 3-5 years.
Direct-injection engines, new forms of fuel cells, lithium batteries, new polymers, and many other technological developments are now in the works. They are in the works thanks to a strategy that places cooperation over punitive government mandates.
We have made solid progress, Mr. President. Progress toward making vehicles that achieve greater fuel economy without sacrificing the qualities consumers demand.
And we should remember, Mr. President, that we can remain competitive and retain American jobs only if people will actually buy the vehicles our industry produces.
Cooperation will produce the results we need. New punitive mandates will produce an economic downside none of us want to see.
Again, I will use every legislative means at my disposal as a U.S. Senator to stop bills or amendments to increase CAFE standards. I urge my colleagues to reject this misguided attempt to increase the destructive CAFE requirements.
As the son of a man would worked as a UAW member on the line for about 20 years of his life, and the son-in-law of a man who did it for 39 years in the State of Michigan, my family understands, as do thousands of other families in our State, exactly what happens
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We don't want that to happen. We can achieve the twin goals of keeping people at work and producing more fuel-efficient vehicles if we continue the course that has been working. The development, the research, the technology, which the Federal Government has participated in is going to produce the success we want. We can do it without government-imposed mandates of people losing their jobs.
This Senator plans to fight in every way he can to make sure that is the course we follow.
I yield the floor.
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