Posted on 12/07/2008 7:53:28 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
With job losses mounting and Detroit’s Big Three automakers facing a battle on Capitol Hill over emergency federal aid, President-elect Barack Obama on Sunday predicted more hard times for the U.S. economy before it starts to turn around, and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) threatened a potential filibuster of any attempt to bail out the automakers.
”This is a big problem. It’s gonna get worse,” Obama warned on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“Things are going to get worse before they get better,” he added.
Obama’s comments came on a busy Sunday morning that saw Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making stops on three talk shows to talk about the fallout from the Mumbai terrorist attacks, and lawmakers clashed over whether a $15 billion “bridge loan” to American automakers should be approved.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), a staunch ally of the U.S. carmakers, and Shelby, who has emerged as the leading opponent of any aid package for the Big Three, sparred over the whether the American government should rescue U.S. automakers during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”
Levin said he was “confident” that Congress would consider a bailout bill for the auto industry, but stopped short of predicting whether it would pass. Democratic leaders in the House and Senate are considering a $15 billion “bridge loan” to help out the automakers.
"I think they're very close to a deal, I think there will be a deal and that will happen in 24 hours," Levin told host Chris Wallace. “Obviously, that's a much more complicated question of whether the votes are there. What I'm confident of is that a bill will be introduced."
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
It doesn’t hurt to contact them and let them know what you think. They may vote the otehr way anyway, but they’re your members. Why not at leat send an email.
Another tactic is to phone the district offices rather than the DC office. To them, 10 calls are like 1000.
Absolutely.
Chapter 11 could be the best thing for teh future of americas’s auto industry.
I think that would be a filibuster....I doubt they have the numbers to fight off a cloture vote.....
All they need is 41. I suspect the odds of them getting to that number aren't all that bad. Otherwise, there already would have been a vote.
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