Republicans Bash Bush Over Auto Bailout

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House GOP leader John Boehner and a cast of other angry fiscal conservatives have also rained criticism on the president. Bush may only have a month left in office, but Republican leaders who went along with the Wall Street bailout are finally making a clean break with their president on [...]

Bush announces $17.4 billion auto bailout

“If we were to allow the free market to take its course now, it would almost certainly lead to disorderly bankruptcy,” Bush said at the White House, in remarks carried live by the national broadcast networks. “In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not [...]

Dingell blames ’some Southern senators’ for auto bailout defeat

“Last night, some Southern Senators kicked American workers in the gut,” Dingell said in a statement released by his office. “Let’s be clear about what happened in the Senate: Senators from states where the international automakers do considerable business unpatriotically blocked a bill that was supported by the White House, that passed the House with [...]

White House: Nation ‘can’t withstand’ failure of automakers

In what may be its strongest pitch to date on the need for rescuing the domestic auto industry, the White House today linked the $14 billion targeted for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC with a surge in jobless claims, saying the national economy “can’t withstand” the impact of the automakers failing now.
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Markets tumble: Auto bailout crash stokes fears of deeper recession

Financial market reaction to the plan’s collapse was swift, brutal and broad, with the dollar, Asian stocks and commodity prices tumbling.
The collapse of a proposed bailout for U.S. automakers has raised fears of a deeper economic slowdown and further financial shocks that may jeopardize worldwide efforts to ease a global recession.  Any failure or bankruptcy [...]

Rescue Bid for Detroit Collapses in Senate

A frantic, last-ditch attempt to forge an relief package for the auto industry collapsed in the U.S. Senate, dealing a giant blow to hopes of the Big Three.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada suggested the $14 billion wouldn’t be revisited until January. “It’s over with,” he said.
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Murky future for auto rescue amid GOP opposition

A House-passed bill to speed $14 billion in loans to Detroit’s automakers stands on shaky ground in a bailout-weary Congress, undermined by Republican opposition that could derail the emergency aid in the Senate.
Republicans are challenging lame-duck President George W. Bush on the proposal, arguing that any support for the domestic auto industry should carry significant [...]

A Ruinous Bias Against Helping Detroit

Media coverage of the auto crisis has been powerfully biased against assistance to the industry, in part because reporters, editors and TV producers—not to mention the corporate owners—have yet to shed the outdated free-market fundamentalism that has shaped American journalism for so many years. The worst example in recent weeks has been the constant repetition [...]

White House, Congressional leaders near agreement on $15B short-term auto aid plan

The White House and Congressional Democrats are nearing agreement on a $15 billion compromise short-term aid plan for Detroit’s Big Three automakers, two congressional aides said late Friday.  Democrats were preparing to drop their insistence that the money come from the $700 billion Wall Street rescue program, and agree to tap a Department of Energy [...]

Obama Pushing for $50 Billion Automaker Rescue, Czar to Oversee Companies

President-elect Barack Obama is pushing Congress this year to approve as much as $50 billion to save cash-starved U.S. automakers and appoint a czar or board to oversee the companies, a move that would require President George W. Bush’s support, people familiar with the matter said.
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