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Mr. DONNELLY of Indiana. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Americans across the country have, for decades, taken their families and recreational vehicles to national parks, historic battlefields, and other tourist sites and towns that are uniquely American. Despite the recent economic downturn and increase in gas prices, thousands more RVs will continue to be sold each year.
My amendment is simple: Include RVs as eligible for vehicle technologies research at the Department of Energy under section 201 of the bill dealing with medium and heavy duty and transit vehicles.
The RV industry has been moving in the right direction with fuel efficiency research; however, just as with other medium and heavy duty vehicles, the costs of such research for RVs are high. High costs in a tough economic climate slow progress by making it difficult for companies to set sufficient research funding aside.
Including RVs among medium and heavy duty vehicles makes sense because of their similar size, weight, and power train. H.R. 3246 prioritizes making our vehicle fleet in the United States as fuel efficient as possible by developing and promoting new technologies, and our amendment clarifies that recreational vehicles should be part of these efforts, ensuring that the thousands of new RVs that drive onto America's roads each year are using the least amount of fuel possible.
I strongly support H.R. 3246 and believe this amendment to include RVs will make the program more successful in ensuring medium and heavy duty vehicles are more efficient energy users.
Mr. Chairman, I strongly support this bill, and I thank Chairman Gordon and Mr. Peters for their work on this legislation to help make the vehicles on our roads more fuel efficient and our auto industry more competitive for the future. I would also like to thank my good friends and colleagues Mr. Souder and Mr. DeFazio for their support of this amendment.
I urge the House to support my amendment and also to support the underlying bill.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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