Auto Bailout: Republicans Want to Screw the Unions

Republican opposition to a bail-out for the Big Three automakers is part of its campaign to gut US unions. Republican senators want extreme cuts to union wages and avoid stringent environmental promises in exchange for receiving the cash infusion.

The Bush administration said today it is willing to consider using funds from other sources to provide emergency aid to the nation's Big Three car companies following the Senate's rejection Thursday night of a congressional bailout plan. The statement from White House spokeswoman Dana Perino marks a shift in tone for the administration, which has so far rejected the idea of using money from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program or other sources under its control to help the auto industry survive.

After the collapse of negotiations in Congress, however, the White House said all options are on the table to help keep the automakers in business. On Thursday evening the US Senate failed to negotiate its way around the fine print of a short-term bail-out of the Big Three automakers, and we now face the very real prospect of General Motors and Chrysler declaring bankruptcy. Why the political stalemate? Well, it sure wasn't over the money itself. A year ago, $14bn, the amount asked for by the CEOs of the Big Three, might have seemed a big deal.

In the era of the trillion-dollar bail-out package, it's chump change. The money represents a mere 2% of the sum put aside to rescue banks, only 9% of the money handed over to the insurance giant AIG. The auto bail-out failed because of a clash of visions regarding America's industrial future, or lack thereof.

Link to con.