Dems FINALLY stop no-ties bailouts

Fucking hell, took them long enough... obviously waiting until the election 
was over to stop Bush's CEO Buddy bailouts with no strings attached.

The Dems should also renegotiate every other bailout made.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081120/congress_autos.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The $25 billion rescue plan for the auto industry, 
desperately sought by Detroit's beleaguered Big Three, collapsed Thursday as 
Congress drew the line at one more bailout and Democrats said they wouldn't 
even consider it until the companies produced a convincing plan for 
rebuilding their once-mighty industry.
The demise of the rescue -- at least for now -- left uncertain the fate of 
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, and sent Wall Street 
spiraling to its lowest level in years. The Dow Jones industrials dropped 
445 points, the second straight plunge of more than 400, and hit the lowest 
point in nearly six years.

The carmakers have been clobbered by lackluster sales and choked credit, and 
are battling to stay afloat through year's end. Failure of one or more of 
the Big Three would be a severe further blow to the floundering economy --  
and to many Americans' view of the nation's industrial strength -- and throw 
a million or more additional workers off the job.

Just Thursday, the government reported that laid-off workers' new claims for 
jobless aid had reached a 16-year high and the number of Americans searching 
for work had soared past 10 million. Congress approved a measure to extend 
jobless benefits through the holidays, and the White House said President 
George W. Bush would quickly sign it.

But Democratic leaders scrapped votes on the auto rescue, postponing until 
next month a politically tricky decision on whether to approve yet another 
unpopular bailout at a time of economic peril, or risk being blamed for the 
implosion of an industry that employs millions and has broad reach into all 
aspects of the U.S. economy.

"Until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money," Speaker Nancy 
Pelosi, D-Calif., said at a hastily called news conference in the Capitol.

GM, Ford and Chrysler quickly issued statements promising to submit the 
blueprint the Democrats demanded.

Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Congress might 
return to work in early December for a vote on aid to the carmakers -- but 
only if they show Congress they could use the funds to transform their 
struggling industry into a viable one.

For now, however, the Democrats said the aid plan lacked the support to pass 
Congress and be signed by Bush.

Bush and congressional Republicans had balked at Democrats' suggestion to 
draw emergency auto industry loans from the $700 billion Wall Street rescue 
fund. And most Democrats were unwilling to go along with a separate, 
bipartisan effort backed by the White House to temporarily divert an 
existing program to help carmakers produce vehicles that burn less gasoline 
to cover the companies immediate financial needs.

But with GM warning it could go under before year's end, Democratic leaders 
were unwilling to close up shop for the year and appear to turn a deaf ear 
to the industry. They called for a Big Three viability plan by Dec. 2, 
scheduled hearings that week on the report, and said a vote on a bailout 
could come the week of Dec. 8.

"Yes, we're kicking the can down the road, because that will give us the 
opportunity to do something positive," Reid said. "But that will only happen 
if they get their act together."

The White House criticized the delay, saying the plan to let the automakers 
tap the fuel-efficiency loans for their short-term cash needs should be 
considered.

"If there are lawmakers who want to help the automakers, and they have a 
path to do so, why are they going to kick the can down the road?" said Dana 
Perino, the White House press secretary.

The chief executives of the Big Three automakers appealed personally to 
lawmakers for the loans this week, saying their problem was the economic 
meltdown that has walloped their industry -- not that they were 
manufacturing unappealing cars.

But whatever support they found sagged when it became known that each of 
them had flown into Washington aboard multimillion-dollar corporate jets. 
Reid observed that was "difficult to explain" to taxpayers in his hometown 
of Searchlight, Nev.

Pelosi said she had little patience left for excuses from the carmakers on 
why they haven't turned their businesses around.

Beyond the auto industry, lawmakers said the public has little appetite for 
anything else that smacks of a bailout, following the backlash against the 
$700 billion financial rescue.

"There is a sense that we did not do a good enough job of safeguarding the 
use of those funds, or providing prevention against abuse. And you could not 
get, I believe, through either house of Congress today what some people 
might think was a repeat. That's why we need to take time," said Rep. Barney 
Frank, D-Mass.

Even if lawmakers return to vote, they are likely to insist on numerous 
conditions on any loans. Democrats and Republicans alike want the government 
to get a chance to share in future profits by the auto companies, require 
them to limit executives' pay packages and prohibit use of the funds for 
lobbying or paying shareholders dividends.

In scrapping plans for a vote this week, the Democratic leaders sidetracked 
a bipartisan agreement to temporarily divert the fuel-efficiency funds to 
cover the auto companies' operations.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said that plan had a "reasonable chance" of 
passing, and that the leaders' decision to delay it was "risky and 
unnecessary."

"We need speed. This is a very, very important moment," Levin said.

Indeed, the Democratic Congress -- having just expanded its majorities in 
this month's elections -- was under immense pressure to show it could govern 
in a difficult situation.

"I can't imagine a scenario where they wouldn't come back, unless the answer 
is that they just don't care. And if that's the case, then the American 
people ought to know that," Perino said.

The leaders of the Big Three automakers have painted a grim picture of their 
financial position. They burned through nearly $18 billion in cash reserves 
during the last quarter -- about $7 billion at GM, almost $8 billion at Ford 
and $3 billion at Chrysler. GM and Chrysler have said they could collapse in 
weeks.

The stakes are high. The Detroit automakers employ nearly a quarter-million 
workers, and more than 730,000 other workers produce materials and parts 
that go into cars. About 1 million more people work in dealerships 
nationwide. If just one of the automakers declared bankruptcy, some 
estimates put U.S. job losses next year as high as 2.5 million.

Associated Press writers Ken Thomas, David Espo, Andrew Taylor and Jennifer 
Loven contributed to this report.