Auto bailout question looms over DC

by Frank James

Will the Detroit Three get the taxpayer-funded bailout they seek or not? That question looms over Washington as the Senate reconvenes today to consider a $15 billion bridge loan to help the industry get through the greatest economic decline in decades.

It all comes down to the Senate where the question is are there enough votes -- 60 -- to end debate and move the lifeline legislation to a vote?

As The Hill newspaper reported:

Senate Democrats might need 12 Republican votes to cut off debate because two of their own, Vice President-elect Biden and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), recently named Obama's nominee for secretary of State, will probably abstain.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) on Sunday left open whether he and others are considering a filibuster. "I think we need to debate it," Shelby told Fox. "That's what filibuster is about."

At last week's congressional hearings on the Detroit Three's request for federal assistance, many lawmakers seemed taken with the idea of a federal oversight feature in whatever rescue package is decided on, although there was debate about how that should be structured.

It appears the prevailing idea currently would involve an oversight board comprised of presidential cabinet officials and one official who would be the key decision maker.

An excerpt from the New York Times:

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats were drafting legislation Sunday for tight government control of the crippled American auto industry, including the possible creation of an oversight board made up of five cabinet secretaries and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and led by an independent chairman or "car czar."

Some lawmakers, and experts who testified before Congress last week, seemed to prefer a single individual over a board, at least in the initial phase of oversight, since one person could theoretically make decisions faster and cleaner than a board.

Even as lawmakers and the White House debate what form a bailout would take, and questions remain about whether enough support can be mustered in the Senate, another huge question is how does this get explained to the American people so they will support it?

A majority of Americans, 61 percent in a recent CNN poll, expressed disapproval of such help for the auto industry. That poll was done before last week's stunning unemployment numbers so it may be that the public has softened it's position.

If not, it may be that the only thing that could significantly break down the public's resistance would be for President-elect Barack Obama to use some of his proven powers of persuasion to make the case for the bail-out since it's doubtful Americans could be swayed by anyone else at this point, including President Bush whose popularity is at a low ebb, with many Americans clearly looking beyond him to the next president for direction.