Key lawmakers skeptical of Bush fuel savings plan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Influential members of Congress expressed doubt on Wednesday about the White House goal of raising auto fuel efficiency by 4 percent next decade, convinced the target would harm U.S. manufacturers.

Rep. John Dingell (news, bio, voting record), a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, suggested change is inevitable but he is not sold on the White House approach for saving 8.5 billions of gasoline by 2017.

“We have a target but we don’t know how we’re going to get there,” Dingell said after skewering the Bush administration initiative at an Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing.

Administration officials acknowledged after sharp questioning by Dingell that much of the data for their proposal for passenger vehicles is rough or old, and little in-house study has been done.

Reuters