To help rejuvenate the car industry, Congress wants to offer incentives for owners to trade in their old gas guzzlers for new cars that get better mileage. (See Managing Editor, Autos, Jon Linkov on the CBS Early Show.)

This week, the House passed the measure 298-119.

As it is currently structured, the plan would give vouchers worth $3,500 to anyone who trades in a car that has a combined EPA rating of 18 mpg or less on a new one that has a combined EPA rating of 22 mpg or more. If the old vehicle is replaced with a new one that gets at least 10 mpg more than it does, the voucher would increase to $4,500. (You can find EPA fuel economy ratings on cars back to 1985 at fueleconomy.gov.)

Trucks and SUVs are eligible for vouchers if they get no more than 18 mpg and are replaced with a vehicle that gets at least two mpg more than the old one. The voucher would increase to $4,500 if the new vehicle gets four mpg more than the old one. Other provisions apply to larger medium-duty work trucks.

Dealers would have to verify that the old car will be crushed rather than resold. Since the old vehicles would have to be scrapped, dealers wouldn’t offer any trade-in money. So in reality, the provision would only make sense for vehicles worth less than $3,500.

Based on a similar measure in Germany, the Obama administration anticipates the measure will increase sales by up to one million vehicles in the next year. That would provide a much-needed boost to the ailing auto industry, which has seen sales drop more than 30 percent this year.

Now the Senate is poised to take up the measure, and may try to include a provision for vouchers to buy used cars as well as new ones. Senator Dianne Feinstein has raised concerns that the House bill does not take an aggressive enough stance to encourage the purchase of fuel-efficient cars. She and several other Senators recently introduced their own bill that they say would achieve 32 percent more oil savings than the House bill.

While the measure is designed to help ailing U.S. automakers, we found most of the new models we’d recommend as replacements are made in Japan. In addition, the difference between the voucher value and the transaction price for a typical new car may mean many qualified participants need to finance $20,000 or more for that new vehicle.

Still, few Americans wouldn’t support getting some older gas-guzzlers off the road and jump-starting the auto industry. For more details on how the bill works, you can download the fact sheet in PDF format.

—Eric Evarts

Read our previous report "Congress reaches compromise on cash for clunkers bill."
For more information on the Cash for clunkers program, see our guide.