Senate Leaders: No Auto Bailout Vote Today
EmailSenate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is expected to speak on the automakers’ bailout bill on the Senate floor this morning.
Senate sources tell me McConnell will say he doesn’t think there should be votes on the bailout bill today.
McConnell will gauge support for the bill later today at the Republican policy lunch.
One of the major sticking points inside the bill is a ban on auto company lawsuits against state environmental regulations.
Senators have been working on the terms of any federal government loan to the Detroit automakers for days and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had hoped to bring it up for a vote today.
Last night, Pelosi and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, presented the plan to House Democrats.
But this morning, Pelosi’s aides said they "hope" it will pass, but the bill’s fate is by no means certain. They expect very few "yes" votes from House Republicans.
–George Stephanopoulos
UPDATE: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said today there would be no votes on the automakers’ bailout bill because not everyone had seen the bill. McConnell echoed his comments, saying, "We haven’t been able to get a copy of the bill."
With reporting by ABC News’ Jonathan Karl and Z. Byron Wolf on Capitol Hill.
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I am surprised McConnell thinks there are not enough votes for the passage. I thought it was a “done deal” after Congress met over the week-end. I still don’t believe the bailout should occur without lots of concessions from the auto companies, UAW, and retirees. When there are twice as many receiving pensions as are employed, the imbalance should be confronted ASASP.
Posted by: senior | December 10, 2008, 10:39 am 10:39 am
This thing is just about dead if it doesn’t happen this week. You can’t cut back the cash any more than they’ve already done. It’s already been halved to $15B.
http://www.political-buzz.com/
Posted by: matt | December 10, 2008, 10:40 am 10:40 am
I saw McConnell’s grandstanding on this morning’s news and was not impressed. It seems we’re highly selective about who we bail out.
Rich guys on Wall Street? Great! Give them everything they want and demand no oversight.
Rich guys in Detroit who do provide jobs? (albeit blue collar and one of the republican party’s favorite whipping posts) No Way.
It pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the whole stinking mess.
Posted by: jan | December 11, 2008, 4:25 am 4:25 am
If the Republicans want to commit suicide by not voting for the Big 3,they will actually vote themselves out of office come election time, It shows how out of touch these Republicans really are! They have shown their knowledge in these past eight years as being the worst in the history of our country. They certainly are not thinking of Main St. They sure jumped in and helped out Wall St. because of the greedy, money hungry people that they represent. We Americans are watching very closely to see if the Republicans really care about the people of this country. Give Wall St. 700 Billion, and they can’t give the Auto makers a measley l4 Billion! Shame on you Republicans!
Posted by: SUNMAKER777 | December 11, 2008, 10:12 am 10:12 am
We have a big Wall Street bailout and no auto bailout – we can see who the republicans favor! Astonishing – January cannot come too soon!
Posted by: Kim | December 11, 2008, 10:45 am 10:45 am
jan…I think the bail out on Wall Street was wrong and I think the bail out on the Big 3 is wrong. I think that Congress & Pres. Bush learned a few things about the first bail out. I wish they could add a few more 100 pages (something that PELOSI did with the financial bail out bill) with alot of strings attached to that bail out. If the UAW workers don’t want to give up any of their benefits/perks then no bail out. If the GM UAW workers want to give up over a billion dollars of their benefits/perks then give them a bail out…The GM UAW workers just got a performance bonus in Oct. 2008…that is right just got a bonus which cost GM millions if not a billion dollars. UAW workers are schedule for performance bonuses in 2009 &2010…UAW doesn’t want to give these bonuses up…Now what do you say to these stupid union workers… They also don’t want to give up the 4 days that they get paid while GM retools/make repairs on their plant in July. They don’t want to give up their JOB BANK PRogram…and the list goes on & on & on…go to UAW GM website and read ALL of the UAW benefits and I hope it doesn’t make you too sick to your stomack…
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Posted by: philosopherkingtomas | December 11, 2008, 1:59 pm 1:59 pm
This is what I wrote on line at one of those news pages and the evening news channels down below. I get so mad when they don’t tell the full truth. I DON’T WANT TO LOSE MY HOUSE AGAIN….. DO SOMETHING ABOUT THOSE STUPID REPUBLICANS HOLDING UP THE MONEY TO KEEP US FROM LOSING OUR JOBS AND OUR HOMES!!!!!!!!!! Who’s going to bail out the workers who lose their homes when they can’t pay for them. We bought our home with the wages we make now. Stop and think about the people who work there. mad and scared, Debbie Kovach
Are you people so stupid to believe it would be better for GM and the others to go bankrupt. Can’t you even separate what the news is saying as truth. It’s not a bail out folks…. It’s a loan to be paid back unlike the banks who are doing nothing as they promised. If the workers take a pay cut it could cause more people to file for bankruptcies. The pay my husband gets now gets cut down we won’t be able to pay our house payments. They say we should be making what the workers are making at Toyota and others, but there’s a difference. They hired in at those wages and are buying homes according to their wages…. GM is going to hire new hires at those same wages as jobs open up. My husband is at retiring age and now our PSP has gotten hit hard. That was how we were going to pay our house off and now we can’t. So this will be the second home we lost in our life time because of a recession. We lost our first home in the early 80′s when we were twenty years old and now this. I have every reason to be mad at the republicans, the news people, and people like you….. I hope you feel and go thru what we may go thru for a second time in our lifes, so then you’ll see what a fool you are.
Posted by: Debbie Kovach | December 11, 2008, 7:21 pm 7:21 pm
Bail out?? No concessions?? No deal.
We are all in this together and if the UAW loose, than we all loose. It is better to receive some monetary help as opposed to none at all.
Implement a policy,procedure and process that will be recognized for any organizations that’s looking for help.
However, we cannot bail out the whole world.
Posted by: Lenora | December 12, 2008, 12:34 am 12:34 am
Most Americans do not want an auto bail-out. The unions have made it impossible to for these compaines to survive.
Posted by: Steve | December 12, 2008, 10:05 am 10:05 am
The NAZI Fascist Bush Crime Regime,
Republican Criminal NAZI Fascist : Senators.
Need to Destroy as Much of : The American Economy,
as They Possibly can before January
First DESTROY the WAGES of The UAW
Then DESTROY the WAGES of workers
Through-out the rest of the Nation
The Republican Criminal NAZI Fascist Senate
We want the Wages of The UAW
Equal to Japanese Auto Workers”
ECONOMIC STRIFE :
That is Being used as a Weapon to :
ELIMINATE a DEMOCRACY and
REPLACE IT With : The Totalitarian Dictatorship of
A NAZI FASCIST RULE against :
The Common Working Populace of the United States
Any Corporation or POLITICAL INFLUENCE
That has Supported and Assisted in : The Achievement of :
PURPOSELY and INTENTIONALLY DESTROYING :
The DEMOCRATIC INFRASTRUCTURE and
The ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE of The United States is an :
Act of TREASON
The Republican Criminal NAZI Fascist Senate :
WAGE PACKAGE DESTROYERS
WORKING MIDDLE CLASS AMERICA DESTROYERS
DEMOCRACY DESTROYERS
Posted by: Gipsy59 | December 12, 2008, 11:19 am 11:19 am
why did Harry Reid vote no? Biden and Kerry and Kennedy not voting.
Posted by: andy | December 12, 2008, 11:41 am 11:41 am