Cars, Cash For Clunkers | featured news

US retail sales rebounded in October as demand for cars continued to climb even after the expiration of government sponsored incentives.

They were waiting down at Gibson Chevrolet near Chicago for a couple of five-gallon cans of sodium silicate — liquid glass, they call it — to poison and kill the clunkers when the latest condemned car pulled up.

The U.S. Senate will approve a $2 billion extension of the "cash for clunkers" auto sales incentive by week's end, Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Tuesday, giving new life to a successful program that has boosted industry sales to a 2009 high.

The "cash for clunkers" program could be ended as early as Tuesday unless the Senate approves $2 billion in additional funding, as consumers have jumped at the chance to trade in their aging gas guzzlers.

The popular "cash for clunkers" program will continue at least through this weekend, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Friday.