If this bill were to become law, Durbin said the U.S. would realize a huge fuel savings in just a few years. Experts estimate that by the year 2025, our nation would save more than 2.5 million barrels of oil per day – the same amount of oil the U.S imports from the Persian Gulf today. The bill also would save 420 million tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted – the equivalent to taking 90 million cars off the road.

Durbin, who proposed setting a new fuel efficiency standard for cars and light trucks on three occasions in the past four years, said: “Congress can no longer ignore the real solution to ending our dependence on foreign oil and reversing the growing and harmful effects of global warming. The road to energy security, a healthier environment and consumer relief begins with increasing the fuel economy for all cars and trucks.”

Durbin said that the average fuel economy of our nation’s cars and trucks has steadily declined since 1985 when the last fuel efficiency requirements ended. In 1975, when American cars were averaging 14 miles a gallon, Congress passed the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) law, which required manufacturers to double the fuel economy of their vehicles to nearly 28 miles a gallon in 10 years.

The Ten-in-Ten Fuel Economy Act would require the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration to increase CAFE standards for all vehicles to 35 miles per gallon by Model Year 2017. Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency would be required to update its testing to reflect actual fuel economy.

“American’s today are spending more than 45 percent more for gasoline than they were in 2003. If the U.S. had increased the fuel economy of all cars sold in America ten years ago by only five miles per gallon, we would be using more than one million fewer barrels of oil per day – saving $33 billion annually in the U.S. economy and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming,” Durbin said.

Durbin pointed to a study by the Environmental Law and Policy Center which found that increasing fuel economy will save money – and this money will translate into new jobs and economic growth in other sectors of the economy. The study concluded that at $3 per gallon, cars and trucks that average 30% better mpg would save Illinoisans $3.6 billion on gasoline costs annually.

Durbin noted that many of the same arguments against new fuel efficiency standards – more expensive cars, impossible technical hurdles, loss of car making jobs – were raised back in 1975. “American ingenuity and can-do-attitude have proved those predictions wrong. With the great threat of global warming and a world market where China and India are competing with the United States for a limited supply of crude oil, we must rise again to meet the challenge.”