When the US government approved the $950 million budget for the Car Allowance Rebate System – or as it’s more popularly known, the Cash for Clunkers program - it had hoped that the money allocated would be enough to last until November. As it turns out, it might not even make it to August.

As a result of the unprecedented turnout for the CFC program, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 316 to 109 in favor of H.R. 3435, a bill that would give the CFC program with an additional $2 billion.

It was only last Monday when the program officially began and the response was unlike anything anybody ever expected. A couple of days into it, the government’s $950 million budget is dangerously close to being blown away by eager Americans who have taken advantage of this program.

While it seems that the new bill had a safe passage into Congress, it might find stiffer adversaries in the Senate, which, incidentally, wasn’t all that united in approving the original bill. The event that the Senate does approve it, the additional funding, which came from the extra funds generated by unused loans for renewable energy systems, will go into effect as soon as the original $950 million is completely exhumed.

The question is how long the added $2 billion in funds is going to last. If we take history’s side on this matter, then it’s pretty safe to say that it could also be wiped out sooner than any of us ever thought it would.