The “Cash for Clunkers” program appeared Friday morning to have been given new life.
After a report Thursday night that House members were being told the program was out of money, on Friday morning Obama Administration officials said it was still going strong, and FOX learned that House Democrats were planning to give the program another $2 billion to keep running
“If you want to buy a car this weekend, the program is absolutely up and running,” Council of Economic Advisors Chairman Christina Romer told FOX Business.
Romer was echoing comments from White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on Friday morning saying that Cash for Clunkers was “extremely successful” and that it was benefiting buyers, sellers and auto makers. Gibbs said the Administration was working with Congress to find a solution to the reports that Cash for Clunkers had run out of money.
The scramble to add cash comes in the wake of reports that the program appeared to be too popular for its own good.
A House leadership staffer told FOX Business on Thursday that House members were being informed by the Department of Transportation that the program was either out of money or would be by the time all the deals were processed.
As FOX Business’s Brian Sullivan reported on Wednesday, the allocation of $1 billion for the program averaged out to just 12.5 vehicles per dealer, which given the program’s popularity, didn’t seem to be enough.
“Cash for Clunkers,” officially the Car Allowance Rebate System, gives money to people who trade in certain qualified vehicles and buy vehicles that are more fuel-efficient. So trading in, say, an old SUV and getting a Ford (F) Focus or Toyota (TM) Prius would likely make the car owner eligible for the program. The traded-in cars aren’t able to be re-sold -- their engines must be rendered unusable by the dealers.
The program’s Web site said as of Thursday evening that $779 million remained in the program, with $75 million remaining for CAT3 trucks.
--FOX Business's Peter Barnes and FOX News's Chad Pergram contributed to this article.
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