STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD - MICHAEL C. BURGESS

ENERGY AND COMMERCE

MARKUP

A bill to authorize the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to set passenger car fuel economy standards Improvement Act of 2002

May 3, 2006

Mr. Chairman,

I would like to thank you for holding today's mark-up, as well as the hearing last week on this legislation.

We’ve heard testimony from a number of experts, including Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, on a draft version of the committee print.

I'd like to commend Chairman Barton for taking into account the experts’ comments and issues raised by members of the committee in revising the original draft for the product we have before us today.

I believe it is important to recognize that regardless today’s outcome on this bill, the American public should be informed that increasing CAFE standards will not immediately bring down gasoline prices.

I think by now my fellow committee members know that I believe our best bet to decrease our consumption of gasoline, at least in the immediate future, would be to increase the number of hybrid cars on the road.

I've owned my Prius now for about 2 years. I've logged a lot of miles across North Texas during the course of that time and there's no telling how much money I've saved on gasoline.

But it is consumer demand and consumer choice that will ultimately determine the "fuel economy" of the vehicles that are actually on America's highways and biways.

Today there are more Priuses and other hybrids on the road than there were a year ago, which was more than there were on the road 5 years ago. The market has recognized this increase in demand and now there are even more models available to choose from – including the unofficial car of Texas - hybrid SUVs.

The tax incentives for the purchase of hybrid and alternative fueled vehicles in the Energy Bill helped to encourage the purchase of these more fuel efficient cars; but the primary driver behind this trend is consumer demand.

With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.