mr. chairman , i would respectfully add my voice to those opposing this amendment . 
while clearly we all want to reduce our imports of foreign oil , i have not been convinced that raising cafe standards would actually accomplish this . 
as i understand it , our imports ' share of oil consumption was 35 percent in 1974 . 
since then , our new car fuel economy has roughly doubled , but our auto import share has risen nonetheless to about 50 percent . 
for this reason , i am not convinced that the amendment , if adopted , with achieve one of its primary goals . 
additionally , our national economy is struggling , to say the least . 
in my home state of pennsylvania , which is not normally thought of as a state closely tied to the automotive industry , a total of 220 , 800 jobs are dependent on the industry ; 39 , 700 of these people are directly employed by it , and when you add in other spin-off employment , we are talking about over 220 , 000 jobs in pennsylvania alone . 
mr. chairman , in these difficult economic times , i simply do not think it is prudent to put those jobs and this vital industry in jeopardy when it is not clear the benefits potentially derived would merit doing so . 
with the gentleman from michigan ( mr. dingell ) xz4001100 i urge defeat of the amendment . 
