The Auto Bailout: Who Is In Favor of What
In this post, I described the three different proposed funds for the auto industry. Now, I’d like to lay out which politicians are advocating what. I’ll update this as we go forward.
Pro-Bailout
Carl Levin (and Jennifer Granholm and the rest of the MI delegation, both Democrat and Republican): Particularly given John Dingell’s current focus on retaining his Chairmanship, Levin has taken the lead on championing a bailout for the auto industry. Levin has said he would be willing to discuss hard conditions on the industry–and already advocates more oversight than the financial bailout–though he has not committed to all the oversight some would like.
Barney Frank: Frank will submit the counter-part to Levin’s bailout proposal today. He advocates even stronger conditions than Levin and than the conditions place on the finance bailout.
Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama: Both the Speaker and the President-elect first floated a unique bailout but now (presumably realizing a unique bailout won’t get done), want money from TARP. Both have advocated significant oversight and conditions on any bailout. Both are trying to prevent the $25 retooling fund be turned into a bridge loan, because they want to make sure the retooling happens as well.
George Voinovich: Unlike John Boehner, Voinovich is putting his constituents ahead of ideology. Given that he is up for re-election in 2010, he may be thinking of how the populist Sherrod Brown trounced Mike DeWine in 2006.
Middle Ground
George Bush: Bush supports a bailout, but would like to use the $25 billion that was supposed to be used for retooling factories to produce more efficient cars rather than tapping into TARP or providing new funds.
Mitch McConnell: Like Bush, McConnell would be willing to consider supporting a repurposing of the $25 billion targeted for energy efficiency, but not new funds. McConnell is in a fairly tough place on these issues. While I’m sure he’d love to bust the UAW, he’s got a bunch of auto plants in his state–with a remarkable mix of both Japanese and American manufacturers. Significantly, two key Ford plants in KY will be idling for 5 months over the holidays.
Kit Bond: Bond, who like Voinovich is up for re-election in a swing state in 2010, wants to save the jobs of Missourians, but wants to look tough at the same time.
Anti-Bailout
Richard Shelby: Shelby is the lead opponent of any kind of bailout and will, if pushed, demand a series of totally unrealistic conditions to try to thwart any kind of bailout. Partly, Shelby holds this position because as a good Republican he’d love to bust the UAW. More importantly, though (and something that the media appears either uninterested or unaware of), his stance, if successful, would give the major foreign manufacturers in his state a big competitive advantage. Of note, Shelby likes to say the Big Three have a failed business model, but he fails to disclose that most of the cars built in his state are the same behemoth SUVs and Trucks that most people believe are a big part of the failed Big Three model.
John Boehner: Boehner opposes the bailout, claiming the plan doesn’t move the auto industry back towards competitiveness. I assume this is code for "free me of the UAW," since many of Ohio’s workers are union auto employees.
Jim Cooper: Democratic Blue Dog Congressman from TN opposes the bailout, calling for conditions on it. TN is another state with auto manufacturing–both the old Saturn plant and Nissan and Volkswagen plants.
John Kyl: In addition to Richard Shelby, Kyl was the other Republican attacking a bailout yesterday. Kyl, of course, is the second-ranking Republican in Senate leadership after Mitch McConnell. I take his appearance on the Sunday shows to be a bit of a surrogate for McConnell, who doesn’t want to take the lead on opposing a bailout, though that’s just gut feel.
Thanks ew. digg
So Cooper wants to bust the unions too? What kind of district is he in? Also, are any of the factories located in Bonehead’s district? I am sure he only cares about his district, not the state of Ohio.
I think these guys figure that no organized employees would vote for them anyway so their stance won’t give then any penalty later on.
fwiw, Sean-Paul Kelly’s take:
There’s a reason Sean-Paul Kelly is saying, repeatedly, he doesn’t know WTF he is talking about.
It’s because he doesn’t know WTF he is talking about. Not least in his optimism about bankruptcy (that’s an area he knows more than me, but whatever), but also his repeated insistence that the way to turn a company profitable again is to eliminate its profitable products, and his belief that the place where you’d turn this around is on the shop floor, which has, to a large extent, already been turned around.
I think this is a much more detailed look than Kelly provides: We Are All Flint Michigan Now
Btw, is anyone having an “elections matter” tingle?
McConnell (just weeks after his closest race), Kit Bond and Voiny (both looking ahead to 2010) as the swing Senators?
No tingles here, I leave that to professionals like Chris Mathews, but if you’re saying some light may be dawning on the GOP members, I’m all for it.
Except Lieberman, of course. Elections apparently do not matter in any way to the Senator from Nowhere.
I, for one, am shocked, shocked that John Kyl is in the caveman/idiot category. Go figure. I am so fortunate to be represented by the Three
toiletsJohns.I’m still convinced my
toiletJohn (Cornyn) is worst than yours.Keeping with the theme, Cornyn v. Kyl is a crappy distinction.
@12 – Agreed.
Noriega ran a good race though. Made Cornyn nervous, at least. I believe Texas will be in play for Dems. in 2012, especially if Obama is able to make any progress at all.
Meanwhile, I share your pain.
A prime reason to keep GM afloat: production by GM of the Volt will drive development of new and better battery tech like wind on a wildfire.
The bailout deniers are morans.
Also, anybody who supports a stimulus package needs to realize that a GM bankruptcy is a bigger anti-stimulus than anything we can get passed in DC.
Sad. It’s just sad.
a little ot
Yesterday on book tv Tobin,Obamanomics author, said the AAA ratings on the mortages were “bought” by the big investment banks in order to guarantee their trumped up value,which was the linch pin to the whole mortgage scam.He flat out stated that the whole thing was a scam,a huge conspiracy manufactured by the big banks.
I kinda expected this but couldn’t believe it.
I thought it was the insurance co acting alone.
Why are the people/governments that bought these securities letting this slide?
I mean wars have been fought over less
You are a national treasure! How do you know so much about so much? I just finished your auto industry posts from today and have learned a ton. Thanks.
Ew what are folks on the streets in your neck of the auto woods saying about bailout or bankruptcy for GM?
Amy Goodman interviews Naomi Klein on the “Bailout Profiteers”
http://www.democracynow.org/
Ot Ew I think you will be interested in this Amy interview
Ex-CIA Officials Tied to Rendition Program and Faulty Iraq Intel Tapped to Head Obama’s Intelligence Transition Team
John Brennan and Jami Miscik, both former intelligence officials under George Tenet, are leading Barack Obama’s review of intelligence agencies and helping make recommendations to the new administration. Brennan has supported warrantless wiretapping and extraordinary rendition, and Miscik was involved with the politicized intelligence alleging weapons of mass destruction in the lead-up to the war on Iraq. We speak with former CIA analyst Melvin Goodman and Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights. [includes rush transcript]
Naomi Klein “bailout borderline criminal”
According to Naomi Klein’s latest article in The Nation, “The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington’s handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal.” The article is called “In Praise of a Rocky Transition.”
Naomi Klein, investigative journalist, author of The Shock Doctrine, joins us now from Toronto, Canada.
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Naomi.
NAOMI KLEIN: Thanks so much, Amy.
AMY GOODMAN: “Criminal”? Explain.
NAOMI KLEIN: Well, there’s a few elements now that are being described as illegal that we’re finding out. First of all, the equity deals that were negotiated with the largest banks and also some smaller banks, representing $250 billion worth of the bailout money, this is the deal to inject equity into the banks in—to inject capital into the banks in exchange for equity. The idea was to address the so-called credit crunch to get banks lending again. The legislation that enabled this was quite explicit that it had to encourage lending. Barney Frank, who was one of the architects of that legislation, has said that it violates the act if the money is not going to that purpose and is instead going to bonuses, is instead going to dividends, going to salaries, going to mergers. He said that violates the acts, i.e. it’s illegal. BUT WHAT WE KNOW IS THAT IT’S GOING PRECISELY TO THOSE PURPOSES. IT IS GOING TO BONUSES. IT IS GOING TO SHAREHOLDERS . And it is not going to lending. The banks have been quite explicit about this. Citibank has talked about using the money to buy other bank —————————————————-
This is what Journalist/Economist Robert Kuttner said last week on Democracy Now and on Washington Journal
While a bankrupt big 3 would weaken the UAW and strengthen the foreign manufacturers in his state, so too will the bailout decrease the competitiveness of some of his state’s major employers. While Shelby may not be the salt of the earth, for once the spew he sets forth is legitimate.
Sean-Paul Kelley’s comments are useless. Bankruptcy law only looks to 1) paying creditors by hierarchy of standing, and 2) if a reorg, looks to re-establish a going-concern rather than an insolvent one. There are NO protections for union workers in this mess because they are not creditors.
I’ve long advocated that the unions take a harder look at buying into the automotive industry. The automakers routinely told the unions that the unions were “valued partners” at the table when restructuring took place over the last decade — and the unions actually bought it, hook-line-sinker.
BTW, Kyl may be a stand-in for McConnell, but Kyl also has both a Nissan and a Toyota technical/test center in his home state. AZ also has been at the center of a dispute regarding what automakers can show on their websites, pitting foreign makers against American makers.