914 



HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



Emery added : 



I do not think that the American automobile industry, as it is presently con- 

 stituted, will be willing to move into another field of propulsion, such as electricity, 

 unless we can demonstrate to the country that one, electric vehicles arc practical; 

 and, two, that they arc available. 



During the debate, McCormack pointed out that his bill provided for 

 R. & D. to develop better batteries. He estimated that the average 

 cost of operating an electric car was a penny a mile, as against 4 cents 

 a mile for gasoline-powered cars (of course, that was in the good old 

 days of 1975 when gasoline was only 60 cents a gallon). 



DYNAMIC LEADERSHIP BY SCIENCE COMMITTEE 



Bauman threw a small monkey wrench into the works by 



interrupting: 



I hesitate to shatter the smiling camaraderie we have seen displayed on both 

 sides of the aisle here, but if this legislation is so good, why are we informed that the 

 administration opposes the bill and that it will be vetoed by the President? 



Goldwater responded: 



I think this is a case where the Congress is providing perhaps more dynamic 

 leadership. The difference in the question is that we want to do it now and they want 

 to continue study. 



Brown added that the bill had unanimous support from the industry — 

 even the so-called Big Three in the auto industry — and that it gave 

 the opportunity to get a struggling, embryonic industry on its feet 

 so it could make a major contribution to the free enterprise system. 



This touched off the opposition of several Members, including 

 Representative Jack F. Kemp (Republican of New York), who declared : 



This is not private or free enterprise at work, it is central planning. * * * It is 

 an outright subsidy to an enterprise aire ady in operation. 



The bill passed by a big margin on a 308-60 rollcall. The Senate 

 took its time, and nnail y got around to passing the electric vehicle 

 bill the following June. The conference committee set the program to 

 cover the period through 1981, with the purchase of about 7,500 

 vehicles and their introduction into Federal, industry and private use 

 over that time period. The full $160 million included in the original 

 House bill was authorized by the conference committee. In addition 

 to the R. & D. and demonstration project established in ERDA, the 

 legislation set up an accelerated research and development program 

 for batteries and related technology. McCormack estimated that it 

 would be possible to place 10 million electric vehicles on the road 

 eventually. He estimated this would result in a savings of half a million 

 barrels of oil a day — amounting to a cost savings of $2.2 billion a 

 year in imported oil (in 1976 prices). 



