 |
 |
|
|
National Review has posted a recent interview with Sen. DeMint on the auto bailout in which he lays out the reasoning for the growing GOP opposition to getting it passed.
The House passed a $14-billion, stopgap bailout of the automotive industry on Wednesday night. But in the Senate, Republicans have the votes to prevent it. And despite urging from the exiting Bush administration, they appear poised to do so.
This is big. Normally, lame-duck congresses concern themselves with far less consequential matters. The addition of seven or eight more Democrats in the next Congress may come weeks too late to prevent the bankruptcy (or, in the worst case, failure) of General Motors.
In the hours leading up to the critical votes, NRO spoke with Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), a staunch opponent of the bailout.
Click here to get read NRO's questions and DeMint's answers.
|
|
|
|
|
Following Wednesday's news conference, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) explains in an interview with FOX News that the auto bailout proposal needs to be changed significantly before he would consider supporting it. He also echoes Sen. DeMint's opinion that it would be better for the bill to fail and for Detroit's Big Three to be forced to restructure under Chapter 11 bankruptcy:
|
|
|
|
|
Republican Sens. Richard Shelby (Ala.), John Ensign (Nev.), David Vitter (La.), Tom Coburn (Okla.) and Jim DeMint (S.C.) explain their opposition to the proposal auto bailout for Detroit's Big Three during a press conference on Wednesday:
|
|
|
|
|
Sen. DeMint discusses the latest developments of the proposed auto bailout and explains why bankruptcy would still be the best way to save Detroit's Big Three:
|
|
|
|
|
Earlier today, Larry Kudlow posted a blog over at National Review's The Corner about finding a pro-growth alternative to bailing out the auto industry and so forth. His solution: supply-side tax cuts. Such tax cuts, he writes, would "jolt the economy back toward growth."
Read his full post here.
|
|
|
|
|
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has an op-ed in the New York Times today that does a fantastic job explaining why bankruptcy, rather than a bailout, is the best hope for a Big Three turnaround:
"If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
"Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check."
Click here to read the full article.
|
|
|
|
|
Sens. DeMint and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) discuss their opposing views on the proposed $25-billion auto bailout last night on Bloomberg News.
|
|
|
|
|
"We have the unions paying off the Democrats with their votes and the Democrats paying off the unions with this auto bailout." -- Sen. DeMint, as quoted by The State.
|
|
|
|
|
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) explains why he is opposed to the $25-billion auto bailout for Detroit's Big Three and why bankruptcy might be the best way for the industry to restructure and return to profitability:
|
|
|
|
|
This week Congress is considering the idea of a $25-billion auto bailout for Big Three -- Chrysler, Ford and General Motors (GM) -- on top of the $25 billion already carved out for the Detroit-based automakers in September's $700-billion Wall Street bailout. The automakers have done their best to make their case for government funds, including threats of folding completely if left to declare bankruptcy and leaving all their employees jobless. However, several leading economic experts have called their bluff, recognizing that bankruptcy might really be the only way to save the Big Three and that a bailout would be a temporary fix.
Notes the Heritage Foundation on its Foundry blog: "The policy question facing Washington is how best to facilitate the changes Detroit must make to survive. The left wants to run everything through Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wants to choose what types of cars the automakers can build and craft a centralized plan to 'assure the long-term viability of the industry.' [Barney] Frank wants a 'very tough oversight board' that could 'veto ventures' new management wants to pursue. Detroit will never go through the necessary changes with Congress in charge. The types of changes needed will be painful and unpopular, and it is difficult to imagine politicians allowing them, never mind insisting on them.
"There is an alternative. And it’s right there in the U.S. Constitution: bankruptcy. Since the founding of our country, the bankruptcy process has been an essential part of the nation’s commercial fabric. Bankruptcy is not the end of the road; it is, rather, a new beginning. The reorganization process provides unique flexibility to unlock the fundamentally sound productive capabilities of a faltering business by freeing it of many obstacles to success, such as unviable contracts, crushing debt and poor management. Reorganization is the right tonic for businesses like the Big Three that need to adjust quickly to new economic realities but are, at their cores, sound, productive and potentially profitable." (emphasis added)
For more information, check out...
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
