Reasons Behind Auto Rejection

There are three main reasons Congressional Republicans scuttled the move to provide a bridge loan to keep the Big Three automakers out of bankruptcy. They were to strike a blow against organized labor, curry favor and increased support from business and to serve the foreign automakers in their own states. It was a cold matter of political calculation. See the facts here.

An e-mail "Action Alert" December 10 to GOP Senators told them, "Republicans should stand firm and take their first shot against organized labor." They lost in the Senate by 17 votes, 52-35, but did prevent the Democrats from getting the 60 votes needed to break their filibuster, which was all they needed to do. Humiliating organized labor was their top priority. By breaking the union they can undercut a major source of funding for their Democratic opponents. The UAW has given $12.5 million to Democrats since 2000. That millions of Americans will lose their jobs or that the economy as a whole will suffer about $240 billion in losses if the companies go down is of little concern to them.

By beating down the union the GOP will stand to become even more popular in business circles and garner increased support from them. It is true that the Big Three have been supporting Republicans 3-1 over Democrats, so they are alienating the car companies. But they stand to more than make up for that with the rest of business and industry. They went along with the twenty times larger bailout of the (non-union) financial industry, so it's not that they are against helping corporations per se. They had no problem with no-bid contracts in Iraq or paying for mercenary forces there. And it's not that they have a problem with micromanaging private institutions. No, their requirements for agreeing to the help were to dictate reductions in workers' pay. Not management pay, of course, mind you. No, the signals are clear. Goodies for corporations, sure. But not if any of the help winds up in the hands of hourly workers. That is against their principles.

Finally, there is a decidedly home field interest element working here. The most vociferous opponents were from states where foreign, non-union automakers have set up shop. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee has Nissan plants and its U.S. headquarters in his state. Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama has Mercedes, Hyundai and Honda plants in his. These men have a vested interest in favoring foreign corporations over American ones, and are wasting no time in doing so.

Their machinations are harmful to the well-being of the country and should be seen as such. Hopefully the Bush Administration will free up the $14 billion it has at its disposal to tide GM and Chrysler over until Obama takes office and a much larger contingent of Democrats takes office. Until then we are seeing once again the short-sighted, tit for tat, me first politics as usual that Obama was elected to end. The old guard has 34 days left and seems intent on trying to make the most of them. Their departure will come none too soon.