Congressional Leaders Want Bush to Help Automakers:
  • Democratic leaders in Congress asked the Bush administration on Saturday to provide more aid to the struggling auto industry, which is bleeding cash and jobs as sales have dropped to their lowest level in a quarter-century.

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the administration should consider expanding the $700 billion bailout to include car companies.

    Automakers already want an additional $50 billion in loans from Congress to help them survive tough economic conditions and pay for health care obligations for retirees. The companies are seeking the loans as part of an economic aid plan that is now more likely to come together early next year rather than in a postelection session of Congress this month.

    Top executives of General Motors, Ford, Chrysler LLC and the president of the United Auto Workers met with congressional leaders Thursday to discuss the loans. The money would be on top of the $25 billion in loans that Congress passed in September to help retool auto plants to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.


Fuck 'em. We don't need any more bailouts or corporate welfare. It's their own fault they're in this mess.

Past Mistakes Haunt Automakers: As GM, Ford, Chrysler face looming demise, critics say they were unprepared for gas price hike, slow to confront unions.