As most Cars for Girls readers know, I’ve been following the Cash for Clunkers amendment with a vengeance the last few weeks.  This amendment would have allowed the Accelerated Retirement of Inefficient Vehicles Act otherwise known as the Cash for Clunkers amendment – into the proposed United States Senate stimulus package. The program would have earmarked federal funds for car owners to trade in their sport utility vehicles in exchange for vouchers to be used to obtain newer, more fuel efficient vehicles.

Thankfully, this is one story I won’t have to follow again anytime soon because according to a recent press release, the bill has been withdrawn!  It seems more legislators than not finally realized the consequences of the program were not cost effective in the long run and would cause hardships on families and the economy in general, not to mention cause detrimental results to those who are employed within the facets of the automobile industry.

According to a recent press release issued late in the afternoon on February 6 by the Automobile Aftermarket Industry Association:

“We are thrilled that this amendment was withdrawn from the stimulus package,” said Kathleen Schmatz, president and CEO of the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA). “This amendment was full of potholes from the beginning and once the Senators were informed of all the unintended harmful consequences that would have resulted from inclusion of this amendment in the bill, they made a very wise and informed decision to remove this amendment from the stimulus package.”

“I want to thank our AAIA staff and most importantly our membership for their hard work in getting out the word about the problems ‘Cash for Clunkers’ would cause,” continued Schmatz. “Their letters emails and phone calls opposing ‘Cash for Clunkers’ were instrumental in getting this amendment removed. The elimination of this amendment is a great victory for vehicle owners as well as for every small business owner who is involved in the automotive industry.”

As of this writing, this is the only piece of information I have concerning the withdrawl and if true, this is most certainly welcome news indeed.

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