Auto Bailout Running On Empty?
(source: pro.corbis.com)
Will the Senate be the place where the auto industry bailout goes to die, even after House Democrats and White House officials spent all weekend working to resuscitate it?
The compromise proposal Democrats are negotiating -- in the words of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a TV interview this morning "as we speak" -- contains a number of provisions aimed at making the Democrat-supported short-term loan package for domestic car companies palatable to bailout-weary Republicans. GM and Chrysler say they need the loans to keep the doors open (and millions of workers employed) through January, and Pres. Bush said on TV last night "hopefully we'll get something done" this week on a bailout.
But none of that has swayed some GOP senators, who are wary of propping up companies they say should be allowed to fail.
As reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal this morning, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) criticized the compromise bailout "as a further move toward 'socializing' the economy" and told CNBC that he might block the bailout plan if it gets to the Senate. Ensign, on preventing passage of the bailout: "We're looking at that very hard, because I have some serious, serious problems with this package as it currently stands. Unless we see some serious give by the other side, I think that not only myself but several of us will be looking at possibly blocking this package."
Just an hour or so ago, Roll Call confirmed that a blockage could be in the works, reporting that "a Republican Senator, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that short of significant changes to the deal, he would place a hold on the legislation" (sub req'd). The senator told the paper that "a lack of Republican participation" in bill negotiations "is a major problem with the agreement that is coming together." Senate GOP leaders Mitch McConnell (KY) and Richard Shelby (AL) "were invited to the negotiations," but declined to participate or send a proxy, Roll Call reports.
The anonymous senator: "If you want a bill to pass, you don’t bring a bill that was only written by the Democrats. ... I have to represent what I think is right and what is good for my constituents."
What happens if the bailout doesn't pass this week? At least two of the Big Three (GM and Chrysler) have said that without an immediate cash infusion they'll go bankrupt before the end of the year. And Ford, the most stable of the domestic manufacturers, has said that it, too, could be caught up in a domino effect caused by a collapse at GM and find itself in bankruptcy, too. With signs of trouble for the bailout in the Senate increasing, those predictions of doom and gloom from Detroit may get put to the test.
(EVAN McMORRIS-SANTORO)
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