The Big Three Bailout is Dead, Hallelujah!
I can not remember being as proud of the Senate Republicans as I am tonight.
WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate failed on Thursday night to reach a last-ditch compromise to bail out automakers, effectively killing any chance of congressional action this year.
The $14 billion legislation officially died in the Senate late on Thursday after supporters failed to get enough support in a procedural vote.
Republican-brokered talks faltered, leaving the chamber at a dead end on an approach for extending $14 billion in loans to avert a threatened collapse of one or more automakers, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in remarks on the floor.
“It’s over with,” Reid said.
That’s not all he said. I hope to rustle up some video of Reid’s craven doom-mongering some time tomorrow. He said something quite astounding that I hope shows up in an enterprising Republican candidate’s campaign commercial when he comes up for re-election.
In the meantime, I want to point out something that’s likely to get lost in the coverage of this story. The Republicans put a compromise out there that the Dems and the UAW (who somehow have become a third political party in the Senate when it comes to the bailout) rejected on only one point. Senator Corker wanted to require the UAW to accept compensation parity with the successful auto makers in this country at any point next year. Republicans were willing to allow the UAW to pick the date, just as long as it occurred in 2009. The UAW flatly refused and the deal collapsed.
So when the pouty-faced Dems and their minions in the MSM start blaming the GOP, just remember that the UAW were the ones who said no.
Good job, Senate Republicans. Well, not all of you. But most of you. Well done.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Senators, Please Think! Kill the Big Three Bailout Bill.
- The Bailout is Now A Trillion Dollars More Expensive than World War II. The Madness Must Stop
- Yeah, We’re Idiots for Listening to Them
Category: Conservatism, Our New Democratic Overlords, The Economy and Your Money
They've already started this morning on the news. Talking about how the Repubs don't care if millions of people lose their jobs at Christmas & what-not. If Republicans don't get out there & explain why they did what they did, the public will hate them even more…even though they voted the way the public wanted!
Cheesestick…I agree. They really need to pound home the fact that the foreign car workers make $45 per hour (non-union) and that the union workers make $75. That's huge. Plus the featherbedding of some 450,000 workers (I think) who continue to draw wages because their plants closed down. What good does it do to reduce costs by closing plants if you have to continue to pay the workers full pay?
How is it reasonable to expect to get out of debt by selling more cars when you _lose_ $2200 on each car you sell? If they can pound _that_ fact home, people will understand.