Aid Package for US Automakers Dies on Senate Floor
Washington 12 December 2008 |
The U.S. Senate has failed to reach agreement on an aid package to shore up the U.S. automobile industry. Despite intense negotiations this week, Democrats and Republicans could not bridge their differences over several issues, including Republican demands for wage cuts for unionized workers. Congressional leaders have decided to put off further consideration of the legislation until next year. VOA’s Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.
In a procedural vote, the Senate voted 52 to 35 to advance a House-passed bill that would provide $14 billion to General Motors, Chrysler and Ford. The vote
was eight short of the 60 necessary to move the legislation forward.
Asian stocks immediately began falling after the vote, which came late Thursday night after negotiations broke down on a Republican-sponsored compromise.
Senator Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who had played a key role in the negotiations, said the main stumbling block in the talks was a Republican demand that unionized autoworkers accept a wage cut next year to match the salaries at foreign automobile manufacturers.
The Bush administration issued a statement describing the collapse of the talks as “disappointing,” and saying it is evaluating its options. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressed disappointment. “We’re not going to get it over the finish line,” he said.
Efforts to reach a deal were unsuccessful despite warnings from many Democrats that millions of jobs could be lost if one or more of the automakers go bankrupt.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino echoed the concerns:
“We believe the economy is in such a weakened state right now that adding another possible loss of one million jobs is just something our economy cannot sustain at the moment,” she said.
But many Senate Republicans said the House bill was the wrong approach. Senator Richard Shelby is an Alabama Republican.
“Unless these companies are materially reconstructed, we’re wasting our time to try to keep them alive,” he said.
Lawmakers are now urging the Bush administration to help automakers by using funds from the $700 billion rescue package approved earlier this year for the financial industry - something the White House had opposed.
from MoreWhat.com:
Some say the auto industry bailout is dead at least until the new Congress is convened in January 2009. Now Reid, Pelosi and others are again calling on Bush to use TARP money to bailout the big (loser) three. Labor and management in the auto industry seem to be saying the same things they have said for years. Those in the public not directly affected by the auto industry troubles have been asking where their bailout is. Are the Dems and GOP at odds over this topic for the usual reasons of party politics or is it something else? How’d that go? Bear/Stearns, yes. Lehman Bros., no. Banks, other financials, yes. AIG, yes. Auto industry, no?
The details with each bailout provided or rejected certainly don’t simplify the analysis. Has to make you wonder what is going on behind closed doors. But in terms of the auto industry bailout alone, there does not seem to be a reassuring response from the industry that public money would solve anything. They have not presented a convincing argument that they are capable of saving their own industry with or without public bailout funding.
The public, aka voters, need to maintain a full court press on those in the federal government responsible for overseeing the transfer of massive amounts of public money to the private sector in an effort to guide public officials to actually deliver that which was promised at the beginning of this mess. Banks, corporations and any other beneficiaries of the bailout fiasco need to be held to the terms of the transactions. Get your house in order and repay the public money through sale of assets or other provisions of the deal. If the public goes to sleep on this one too it will become the disaster everyone wants to avoid.
Stanford Matthews