Obama's CAFE Now Open

One of the good things coming out of this financial mess and the automakers being in dire trouble are the fact that Obama has the automakers and the energy companies by the short and curlies on fuel economy standards (CAFE). Politico is reporting Obama will announce major new CAFE standards tomorrow.

President Barack Obama will announce on Tuesday plans for a new national fuel economy, or CAFE, standard for automobiles in an effort to give more certainty to car companies as they struggle for survival, industry sources told POLITICO on Monday.

The administration will bill the tailpipe-emissions announcement as historic, because it avoids a patchwork of standards and harmonizes so many stakeholders, including automakers, state governments, the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency.

In secret conversations, the Obama administration has lined up support from many state governments and a huge array of domestic and foreign automakers, including GM, Ford, Chrysler, BMW and many more.

Top officials are flying into Washington from around the world for the White House announcement.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is expected to attend, the sources said.

Even Ahnold is going to be there. We'll see how tough these standards are.

[UPDATE] Via Atrios, some numbahs.

Under the new standard, the national fleet mileage rule for cars would be roughly 42 miles a gallon in 2016. Light trucks would have to meet a fleet average of slightly more than 26.2 miles a gallon by 2016.

42 MPG by 2016 is a massive improvement, the auto industry knows it can't say a damn thing about it, and Congress isn't about to pick this fight...not even Michigan's congressional delegation.