House boosts 'Cash for Clunkers' by $2 billion

By Tom Watkins
CNN

(CNN) - The House of Representatives voted Friday to spend an additional $2 billion in economic stimulus funds on the "Cash for Clunkers" program, but its passage by the Senate was not assured.

President Barack Obama urged the Senate "to act with the American consumers in mind to pass this important legislation." But a vote had not been scheduled in the Senate, where the program faces opposition that could make quick passage difficult.

The program offers rebates to certain consumers who exchange old gas-guzzling vehicles for new, more efficient ones. It will run at least through this weekend, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday.

The additional $2 billion comes from a clean-energy fund set up by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the nearly $800 billion economic stimulus program the Obama administration pushed through Congress in February.