Bush Clean-Air Plan Gets Boost

WASHINGTON — Two House members said Monday they will try to resurrect President Bush’s clean-air plan to require auto makers to produce millions of cars that can run on low-polluting alternative fuels.

With the House scheduled to begin floor debate on its clean-air bill later this month, Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) and Jerry Lewis (R-Highland) said they would offer an amendment that would restore a modified version of the mass production requirement proposed by Bush.

While Bush’s proposal called for production to begin in the late 1990s, the Waxman-Lewis bill would delay the start-up date until the year 2000.

The President’s clean-air plan was scrapped by the House Energy and Commerce Committee during its clean-air deliberations over the last year, largely due to strenuous opposition from auto makers and oil companies.