GOP senators voice opposition to auto bailout

updated 6:56 p.m. ET Dec. 10, 2008

WASHINGTON - Emergency aid for the nation's imperiled auto industry was thrown into jeopardy Wednesday, opposed by Republicans who were revolting against a hard-fought deal between Democrats and the Bush White House to speed $14 billion to ailing carmakers.

The House was on track to vote on the bailout Wednesday night, and Democrats held out hope that it could be enacted by week's end. But a growing number of GOP senators declared they would not go along.

The White House, though not formally endorsing an agreement with congressional Democrats, dispatched administration officials to Capitol Hill to make a case for the rescue package. During a contentious, closed-door luncheon with Senate Republicans, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten got an earful of criticism from the rank-and-file, some of whom have already announced plans to block the measure.

"They got a good dose," said opponent Tom Coburn, R-Okla., as he emerged from the session.

Even auto state Republicans who have pushed hard for a bailout said the measure needed work. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said he wanted to see changes. And Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, said the bill didn't have the necessary Republican votes to pass Congress.

The Republicans' revolt came as the House began procedural votes on the package.

It would provide money within days to cash-starved General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, while Ford Motor Co. — which has said it has enough liquidity to stay afloat — would be eligible for federal aid as well.

The plan would create a government "car czar," to be named by President George W. Bush to dole out the loans, with the power to force the carmakers into bankruptcy next spring if they didn't cut quick deals with labor unions, creditors and others to restructure their businesses and become viable.

Opposition from congressional Republicans reflected the tricky task of enacting yet another federal rescue in a bailout-weary Congress, with Bush's influence on the wane.

"People realize that this bill is an incredibly weak bill, (and) is the product of an administration that wants to kick the can down the road and let somebody else deal with it," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.

The scene so far has been somewhat reminiscent of the tense atmosphere of early October on Capitol Hill, when lawmakers argued, cajoled, threatened and lobbied one another, ultimately passing a $700 billion bailout plan that Bush signed into law for Wall Street financial firms.

Debate on the bailout unfolded as a congressional panel reviewing the financial rescue questioned the Bush administration's spending of those funds and challenged its reluctance to use the money to reduce foreclosures. The House was set to add language to the auto aid bill to require that banks that are bailed out by the government report quarterly on how much they have increased or decreased lending.

With Republicans balking and some absent from the emergency, postelection debate, mustering the 60 votes needed to advance the auto rescue measure in the Senate was proving tricky.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, the GOP leader, said Wednesday afternoon that his side had only recently gotten a copy of the measure. He said, "Everybody is still kind of poring through it, trying to figure out exactly what it does. But everybody understands the significance of the issue and the enormity of the problem."

Opposition wasn't limited to Republicans.

Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana announced he was against the measure because of a provision to bail out transit agencies. The bus and rail systems could be on the hook for billions of dollars in payments because exotic deals they entered into with investors — which have since been declared unlawful tax shelters — have gone sour.

At the White House, Deputy Chief of Staff Joel Kaplan told reporters at a late-morning briefing that the administration had yet to read the fine print of its "conceptual agreement" with congressional Democrats.

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