The CAFE standard does nothing to encourage that change.

This is the first legislative change to the CAFE standard since it was created in 1975.

Some policy makers are counting on new CAFE standards for a different purpose, though.

"The industry has shown an unwillingness to improve economy without CAFE standards," he said.

He has supported increases in the CAFE standards that require better fuel economy from the nation's fleet of automobiles.

"CAFE standards," he said, "increase the incentive to look for new cost-effective technologies."

Compared with a tax, CAFE standards affect a much smaller segment of the energy market.

The CAFE standards worked so well that they produced an oil glut by 1986.

When the CAFE standards were established, federal controls kept gasoline prices artificially low.

Today the main argument for CAFE standards appears to be aesthetic revulsion at big cars.