This was a vote on an amendment offered by Rep. Hall (R-TX) to H.R. 3246, the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act of 2009. That bill authorized additional federal funding for the development of more energy efficient and environmentally cleaner technologies for cars, trucks and other vehicles manufactured in the U.S. The legislation provided $550 million in 2010 to develop these technologies, and increased the amount successively by $10 million in each of the following three years. The Hall amendment would have frozen funding for this vehicle energy program through fiscal year 2013 at $550 million, and ended the funding after the 2013 fiscal year.

Rep. Hall, speaking in support of his amendment, said he was effectively asking the Members of the House “to show the tiniest sliver of fiscal restraint (by) . . . saving $30 million (which) is more than reasonable.” He noted that, in addition to this new funding, “billions of dollars in funding (is) already authorized and made available to the auto industry in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and . . . millions more (was) made available to them just this year” in what he referred to as “the nonstimulus bill.”

Hall went on to say “we are spending money at record rates . . . The American taxpayers and future generations are on the hook for trillions of dollars in spending, borrowing, and interest payments over the coming decades. I'm simply asking for us to show a modicum of restraint . . . isn't $550 million a year for a program that already has multiple funding sources enough?”

Rep. Stupak (D-MI) spoke in opposition to the amendment. He argued that the additional research and development supported by this new funding will enable the auto industry to “move toward better, more fuel-efficient vehicles through applied research and development of materials and technologies. This will directly benefit a number of existing companies in their transition toward new parts and technologies for the domestic auto industry, and encourage entrepreneurs with an innovative idea to enter the market.”

The legislation was defeated by a vote of 179-253. One hundred and sixty-one Republicans and eighteen Democrats voted “aye”. Two hundred and forty Democrats and thirteen Republicans voted “nay”. As a result, no reductions were made in the funding authorizations for federal vehicle energy and environmental technology development programs.