If you’ve spent any time in Washington, D.C. or simply noticed what the government officials are driving, you’ve probably noticed some hypocrisy. While the lawmakers are passing legislation to force auto companies to increase the fuel efficiency of their vehicles, many senators and representatives are driving the biggest SUVs they can buy.
That is, until recently.

An energy bill that passed through legislation last year requires House members to lease only vehicles that emit a minimum level of greenhouse gases. But lawmakers aren’t happy about this decision. In fact, many of them are downright angry about it. Some of the biggest offenders include Texas Republican Joe L. Barton and Representative Elton Gallegly. Barton even argued that the SUV that he drives is made in the district he serves. Apparently, he doesn’t get the point of the legislation!

The man who fought for this amendment to the energy bill was Representative Emanuel Cleaver II, a Democrat from Missouri. He just felt that if lawmakers were serious about the environment, they should be doing everything they can do to help, too. And he can back it up with his actions, too. He drives an Econoline that was once an airport shuttle. He uses it as a mobile office, though. And the great thing is that it runs on cooking grease!

With the new guidelines, the Environmental Protection Agency determines which vehicles lawmakers can lease. The organization will have the list by the end of the year, but it will likely include several Ford cars, including the Ford Escape Hybrid and the Mercury Mariner Hybrid, just to name a few.

Personally, I’m happy to see some government officials get a taste of their own medicine. For the last few years, they’ve been passing laws and telling us what we should and shouldn’t drive. But it just doesn’t seem to apply to them. But if we, the taxpayers, are footing the bill for their leased vehicles, they should have to drive what WE tell them to drive! Am I right?