Press Releases

Continuing his fight to use American entrepreneurship and innovation to stimulate the nation’s economy, Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) today urged his colleagues to support H.R 3246, the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act, which will invest in research and technologies to increase the efficiency of our nation’s vehicle fleet while reducing our dependence of foreign oil.  The bill, which passed the House today by a vote of 312 to 114, includes an amendment added by Polis to retrofit the American auto fleet.    

“In order to ensure that America’s love affair with the automobile can continue, we must take the initiative today to make vehicles cleaner and greener for tomorrow,” said Polis.     “Our environment cannot wait for our nation’s entire fleet of vehicles to cycle through their useful lives and our economy cannot afford for these advancements to be available only to the wealthy.  My amendment recognizes this by ensuring that as we green our nations’ mass transit and heavy duty vehicles, we retrofit passenger cars as well.”   

The Advanced Vehicle Technology Act initially invested in technologies that would retrofit existing fleets of heavy duty vehicles used by industry and mass transit.  To bring the benefits of this bill to a wider audience, Polis’ amendment ensures that research and design dollars are also allocated for developing energy efficiency and biofuels technology to retrofit existing personal vehicles.  

“Rather than offering Americans a one-time incentive to throw away functioning vehicles and incur greater personal debt, this goes well beyond “Cash for Clunkers” and allows Americans who are unable or uninterested in replacing their vehicles to benefit from incentives to increase fuel efficiency and use clean biofuels,” said Polis.  “In doing so, it not only protects the environment and the American auto manufacturing industry, but also preserves consumer choice and is available and affordable for a much wider audience.”

Video and text of Polis’ floor speech are available on his website www.polis.house.gov.