Is anyone happy with auto bailout?
Posted: Friday, December 19, 2008 2:05 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
White House, Congress
From NBC’s Domenico Montanaro
Is anyone except Harry Reid happy with the Bush auto bailout?
Conservatives, some perhaps sensing the political winds with 2010 reelection bids at stake, are furious. Michigan Democrat John Dingell wanted more. And autoworker union President Ron Gettelfinger is irked that Bush singled out workers.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has "strong objections;" Sen. Lindsey Graham was "disappointed;" and even Sen. John McCain had "regrets" -- (he had a few).
Remember, this is the same John McCain, who "suspended his campaign" to try and strike a deal on the Wall Street bailout -- which was roughly 41 times the size of Detroit's.
"I regret the President's decision to give away over $17 billion to the domestic automakers,” McCain said. “Just last week, the Senate rejected a bailout plan because it failed to provide assurances that the domestic manufacturers would fundamentally change the way they do business to ensure their long-term viability. I find it unacceptable that we would leave the American taxpayer with a tab of tens of billions of dollars while failing to receive any serious concessions from the industry."
Though, perhaps that's not surprising given McCain's prior sentiments about Michigan's jobs situation during the Republican primary.
“Sometimes you have to tell people things they don’t want to hear,” McCain said at a Jan. 10 debate. “There are jobs -- let’s have a little straight talk -- there are some jobs that aren’t coming back to Michigan.”
On the other side of the aisle, Dingell expressed a different kind of outrage.
“While I applaud President Bush’s decision to provide short term loans to the domestic automakers..."
So far so good.
"...I have strong concerns about some of the conditions that were placed on these loans.”
Here it comes.
Dingell called it “irresponsible during a time of economic crisis for the White House to insist that workers take further wage cuts on top of the historic concessions they have already made."
Then the class warfare.
“No one is asking corporate executives to reduce their salaries to levels similar to that of their Japanese counterparts,” he said, “and no one required the employees of Citibank or AIG to take a pay cut.”
But Bush wasn’t the only target of Dingell’s statement.
“I strongly urge President-elect Obama to revisit this issue as his first priority upon being sworn in, and to ensure that assistance to the automakers is provided in a way that is fair to working Americans,” he said.
Gettelfinger echoed Dingell’s ire -- though, of course, with appreciation to the president as well.
"While we appreciate that President Bush has taken the emergency action needed to help America's auto companies weather the current financial crisis, we are disappointed that he has added unfair conditions singling out workers," Gettelfinger said. "These conditions were not included in the bipartisan legislation endorsed by the White House, which passed the House of Representatives and which won support from a majority of senators."
Just asking, but isn’t it usually the case that when you’ve irritated everyone that you might have gotten it right? Or maybe not.
