3:28 p.m.: Auto-aid plan prospects dim
WASHINGTON (AP) Prospects dimmed Monday for enactment of a $25 billion bailout for the faltering auto industry before years end, as congressional Democrats and the Bush administration headed for a stalemate over the plan.
Help for Detroits Big Three, which have been battered by the economic meltdown that has choked their sales and frozen credit, is falling victim to a partisan fight over where the money should come from.
Senate Democrats said they would press ahead with their plan to carve out a portion of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout to pay for the loans, but several aides in both parties and lobbyists closely tracking the plan acknowledged they do not currently have the votes to do so. They spoke on condition of anonymity because conversations about the still-unwritten auto bailout bill are private.
The White House and congressional Republicans insist that the automaker bailout money instead come from redirecting a $25 billion loan program approved by Congress in September to help the industry develop more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would hold a test vote this week on a broad economic aid plan including spending on public works projects, aid to cash-strapped states, an extension of jobless aid, and the carmaker loans that most now concede has virtually no chance of passing.
If that fails, he will seek a vote on the auto industry bailout and the unemployment benefits, Reid said. It could come as early as Wednesday.
If we move forward, we can protect and create American jobs, help working families and prevent our economy from falling even further into recession, Reid said as he opened a postelection session. I ask my colleagues to show the American people that in the face of tremendous economic pain and uncertainty, we will not wait until January.
The White House, meanwhile, took pains to clarify its position on the bailout, saying the administration does not want U.S. automakers to fail. Press secretary Dana Perino complained that reporting on the White Houses statements on this issue has involved attempts to shorthand the administrations position.
Perinos statement also made clear, however, that the administration steadfastly opposes drawing funds from the bailout plan to help Detroit. The White House opposes the idea of automakers getting an additional $25 billion.
The debate in Washington comes as the financial situation for General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC grows more difficult.
Theres a high degree of urgency for federal action if GM is going to stave off a financial crisis, Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive, said Sunday in a joint appearance with United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger on WDIV-TV in Detroit.
In her statement Monday, Perino said, The auto industry is an important part of our manufacturing base, and we want the industry to succeed and compete in the global economy. But she also said that media reports have erroneously depicted the administration as taking too harsh a stand on financial relief.
We believe this assistance should come from the program created by Congress that was specifically designed to assist the automakers from the $25 billion Department of Energy loan program, Perino said.
She said the $700 billion rescue program was never intended by Congress to assist automakers or other sectors of the economy. It was solely intended to deal with what is an ongoing credit crisis in our financial sector. Perino also said that any new legislative effort to help the big carmakers should require that those manufacturers are viable companies, ones willing to restructure themselves for the long term.
President-elect Barack Obama said he believes aid for the auto industry is needed but that it should be provided as part of a long-term plan not simply as a blank check.
For the auto industry to completely collapse would be a disaster in this kind of environment, Obama said in a 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday night on CBS. So my hope is that over the course of the next week, between the White House and Congress, the discussions are shaped around providing assistance but making sure that that assistance is conditioned on labor, management, suppliers, lenders, all of the stakeholders coming together with a plan what does a sustainable U.S. auto industry look like?
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FlashGordon
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11-18-08 1:24 AM
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One last thing for those in favor of a GM bailout, did you happen to hear GM CEO Rick Wagoner state that GM wanted the Governments money but wanted no rules as to how they should use it? Stop for a second and think about that one, He sure as*****isn't planning on propping up your retirement and helathcare if he gets "YOUR" money.
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FlashGordon
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11-18-08 1:16 AM
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outsider, if you are or were a UAW worker, you're screwed too. Sorry don't like it but you have been sold down the river by your union. The unions at one time were there to protect you from the big bad guy (CORPORATIONS) Note: they still are the bad guy!! but The Unions came to be nothing more than a CORPORATION themselves. These are bigwigs who don't give twoo ***** in the wind about you or this country, just what fills their savings and retirement account. Yeah, I'm angry!!!!!
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FlashGordon
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11-18-08 1:11 AM
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Wake up America, vote every incumbent out of office! quit voting for any presidential piece of **** from either of the Dems or Repubs and get some down home people in Washington. Otherwise, we're all screwed!!!
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FlashGordon
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11-18-08 1:09 AM
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GM, Ford and Chrysler are looking for free money and just continuing on with the already set in place plan to move all production overseas and let the lil oriental kids puts their cars together for them with no regulations at all. Oh, mexicans too! Wonder what kind of policy Mexico will be putting in place when we start running over the border to that piece of **** country? (I already di the **** for the Tib)
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craftyjoe51
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11-17-08 6:49 PM
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I don"t think they should,G.M. is laying off all the workers here, but in China they are building a new plant. The cost of this new plant is $35 billon dollars. We will never see any plants built like this in the US. So if the government bail them out they will still go belly up. Mr. Bush had to pay his friends off before he went out of office on the tax payers expense.
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zipcityboy
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11-17-08 6:12 PM
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Let's see we give $700 billion to Wall Street ty***** so that they can continue to*****the lifeblood out of our economy; we give $1 trillion to an illegal war in Iraq so that military contractors can continue to enrich themselves and trade foreign oil for American blood; and we give over $4 billion to Israel so they can starve Palestinians in Gaza. But we can't come up with a few billion dollars to save hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Whose*****government is this?
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outsider
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11-17-08 6:08 PM
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Take that billion dollars in the UAW strike fund and invest in retiree health care. Not only did the union negotiate increases in premiums, but that fund was built up from deductions from their pay over the years. All they have to show for this now is an almost broke company, and union higher ups with cushy jobs, pensions and benefits. The only thing left to strike will be an empty factory.
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pahootaman
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11-17-08 4:32 PM
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from the article "If we move forward, we can protect and create American jobs, help working families and prevent our economy from falling even further into recession," Don't count on it Reid. 1 of 3 things has happened to every corporation that has received bailout money this year. 1.) They horde the money and don't spend it. Or they use it to buy their competitors. 2.) spend it frivilously on $400,000 "retreats" or use it to pay off their CEO's bonuses/ shareholders. 3.) They burn through it immediately paying off debt. Most costs are used for operational purposes (keeping the rent paid, paying employees, keeping production going). They usually have nothing to show for it after a few months and will be back for another bailout.
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