Cash for clunkers?

"Consumers could get up to $4,500 each to help replace old gas-guzzling cars under a plan that has gained strong support from the White House and leaders of Congress. The ''cash for clunkers'' movement has proved so strong that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is seriously considering making it part of the emergency Iraq and Afghanistan war-spending bill."

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/story/1047354.html

The program seems to be too expensive, and none of the federal government's business.

But, among all the wild new spending programs, this program would at least appear to be effective, and would reduce dependence on foreign fossil fuels.

So, why "mak[e] it part of the emergency Iraq and Afghanistan war-spending bill"? I thought that was the kind of legislative trickery the Democrats were going to change once they took charge.