Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood was on Hardball last night defending Taxpayer Cash for perfectly good cars. Bonus at the end where La Hood tells everyone he has his eye on a gas-guzzling Ford Explorer. SUVs for me, but not for thee!:
Let’s go Ray LaHood, the secretary of transportation, a very popular fellow.
Mr. LaHood, OK, I got an old car I want to get rid of. Should I still go to my dealer and try to get a trade-in, so I get my $4,500?
RAY LAHOOD, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: Absolutely. Go tonight. They’re ready for you, because there’s still a lot of cars to be sold, and the money is still available.
We’re-we-we are working with the Senate this week, so they will pass the $2 billion to continue the program. But we’re encouraging people to go buy cars, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Well, we-Pat Buchanan and I were agreeing on something a few minutes ago off camera. And we decided there was something like-there’s usually 17 million cars sold in this country. This year, the prediction was only 10 million. So, that means seven million people normally would want to buy a car, but weren’t making plans to do it.
With your program, if you do-it would cost about $28 billion to get those-or more-about $30 billion to move those seven million cars. Are you that ambitious? Can we move seven million cars through this program?
LAHOOD: Well, look it, Chris, this is a wildly popular program. It’s a win-win for the American worker who makes the cars, for the car salesmen, for the mechanics, for the dealerships. If you walked into a dealership maybe a week or so ago-or two weeks ago-it was like walking into a funeral home.
Today, it’s like…
MATTHEWS: I know.
LAHOOD: … walking into a bus station or an Amtrak station.
MATTHEWS: But I’m with you. You’re missing my point.
LAHOOD: I believe that…
MATTHEWS: I’m not a skeptic. I want you to do well.
I’m wondering what’s going to happen a week from now, when the next $2 billion runs out, and the Senate and House are on vacation.
LAHOOD: As soon as…
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: And we’re going to have hell to pay in this country, with all these dealers saying, get Congress back from vacation.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: I need to sell some more cars.
LAHOOD: Chris, the $2 billion that the Senate will pass this week will take us through the-until after Labor Day. It will take us through August, and we will be able to meet all the demands that are out there.
MATTHEWS: Want to bet?
I’m telling you, you already went through a billion in one week.
LAHOOD: Sure.
MATTHEWS: Why is it going to take you four weeks to go through two?
It doesn’t make mathematics sense.
LAHOOD: Because, over time, this will diminish a little bit, Chris, and-and I think the enthusiasm for this was-was a pent-up demand. And some of it will diminish a little bit.
And-and I just-our belief is that this $2 billion will continue to be the lifeline that will take us through the month of August.
MATTHEWS: OK.
LAHOOD: We believe that.
MATTHEWS: Well, let me-let me do-let me do my bit, Mr.
Secretary.
Now-now hear this. If you have a car you don’t like, you’re tired of it, it starts to smell, it’s got too many dents in it, it embarrasses you, you can get a new car. All you got to do have a 10 MPG differential, which is easy to find, a car with a little-a decent mileage, and you can get a new car with like a-well, a 25 percent discount, basically, right?
It’s an amazing deal.
LAHOOD: Absolutely. It’s a…
MATTHEWS: OK. Let me ask you about…
LAHOOD: It’s a phenomenal deal. And…
MATTHEWS: Go ahead.
LAHOOD: Well, I was just going to say, and the car-some-
Chrysler is putting another $4,500 on top of it. So, you end up getting $9,000 off a-of a van or another auto-another type of automobile. It’s a-it’s a win-win.
MATTHEWS: You know, Pat Buchanan had this idea weeks ago on this show. I don’t know if it got on the air, but we always sit between the commercials, watch and make-and try to figure out what we’re doing in this country. And he thought it would be a good idea generally.
Do you think this could bring back-it seems like Mulally-Ford is already making a profit this second quarter. Do you think this could help bring back the American auto industry and maybe save GM, maybe save-save Chrysler?
LAHOOD: I don’t think there’s any question about it. This is the lifeline that will bring back the automobile industry in America, which has been hurting very badly. And Americans are buying these automobiles because they’ve been, you know, racking up 100,000 miles on cars, and now they have a chance to get into a new car, which Americans love to do. They love to buy cars. This is their chance to do it.
MATTHEWS: If I gave you 50,000 dollars right now Mr. Secretary, what car would you buy? What’s the best-how about if I give you 30,000? What’s the best car to get out there?
LAHOOD: I have my eye on an Explorer, four-wheel drive. But I have a ‘97 Buick Regal that doesn’t qualify for the program. I may still buy the Explorer. I have been talking to a dealer back in Peoria about this. But I would buy a Ford Explorer.
MATTHEWS: I think it’s the greatest program we’ve ever come up with.
I think it’s a chance for people-
LAHOOD: And by the-
MATTHEWS: It’s a chance for the guy working his butt off on some car line to actually produce something that’s going to sell. It is going to empty the car lots. I don’t know who came up with this idea. Was it your idea, this idea to get cash for clunkers?
LAHOOD: I wish it was. It was somebody in Congress. Actually, it was a couple people in Congress. And it’s a great idea. By the way, I own a Ford Escape Hybrid in Peoria. And it’s one of the best cars that I have ever owned.
MATTHEWS: OK. Thank you very much, Ray Lahood, a very popular member of the American cabinet, a Republican serving in a bipartisan fashion, as you can see.