Despite presidential backing, top GOP senator blasts auto aid

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Barack Obama and the White House said Thursday that the weak economy can't afford the collapse of the nation's automakers, but the top Senate Republican came out against the measure.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the measure "isn't nearly tough enough" on struggling automakers. The Kentucky Republican said the so-called "car czar" wouldn't have the power to force the car companies to make the tough concessions needed to ensure their survival.

And McConnell said the government shouldn't intervene in some industries and not others.

At a news conference to announce more administration officials, Obama said the government can't just stand by and watch the industry collapse because it would have a "devastating ripple effect" throughout the economy.

He told reporters in Chicago that he understands the "anger and frustration" over the situation in which the auto companies find themselves, but the added that the package under consideration in Congress is a "step forward."

White House press secretary Dana Perino cited the latest bad economic news — a jump in jobless claims to the highest level in 26 years — in arguing for Senate passage of a bailout package.

Perino said the economy is in such a weakened state that adding another 1 million people to the unemployment rolls from an auto industry failure would be crushing. She said: "We don't think the economy can sustain it."

Perino called the legislation a reasonable approach.

She said President Bush and other administration officials would be lobbying senators Thursday to vote for the bill.

The measure is the product of a hard-fought deal between Democrats and the Bush White House. It passed the House on Wednesday night, and Democrats were trying to push it through the Senate as early as day's end.

But some were less positive about the bill's prospects.

"I don't think the votes are there," Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, a backer of the measure, said Wednesday. Earlier in the day, several GOP critics lambasted the bill as not going far enough in requiring changes, even though the White House supports it.