The US Senate took on the role of Christmas Grinch for autoworkers when it failed on Thursday to pass a US$14 billion rescue package for Detroit’s three major car manufacturers.
Attention now turns to the US Treasury Department, who Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other supporters of a bailout said should dip into the US$700 billion fund Congress created to help Wall Street firms and banks, and lend automakers the money they need to avoid bankruptcy and save millions of jobs.
The Senate late on Thursday came only a few “yes” votes short of the 60 needed to block a filibuster on the bailout bill, effectively killing any chance of Congress providing a lifeline to the financially drowning automakers this year.
“It’s going to be a very, very bad Christmas for a lot of people based on what takes place here tonight,” Reid told his colleagues before the vote. “It’s over with.”
“I dread looking at Wall Street tomorrow. It’s not going to be a pleasant sight,” he said.
A Treasury Department official declined to comment on the Senate’s failure to approve the rescue package and said it was up to the White House to respond.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the administration would evaluate its options “in light of the breakdown in Congress,” saying the legislation had “presented the best chance to avoid a disorderly bankruptcy while ensuring taxpayer funds only go to firms whose stakeholders were prepared to make difficult decisions to become viable.”
Senators negotiated late into the night on a possible compromise that participants said fell apart over proposed wage concessions by the powerful United Auto Workers union.
“We are about three words — three words — away from a deal,” said Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who proposed the alternative and led the talks.
Democrat Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, criticized Republican senators for pushing for steep wage cuts and warned the auto industry’s fate was tied up with the wider economy.
“I’m deeply saddened. But more than saddened, I’m worried,” Dodd said. “This will fail, we will go home, and I’m afraid our country will be in deeper and deeper trouble.”
For workers in the industry, “this will not be a joyous season wondering whether or not their jobs, their livelihoods, their homes, their children’s futures are at risk,” he said.
For GM and Chrysler, the last hope for a government lifeline appeared to rest with the White House, which has so far refused to draw on the US$700 billion Wall Street bailout fund for the reeling car companies.
The financial bailout money “may be where they go next,” said Republican Senator John Thune.
Reid called on US President George W. Bush to reconsider his administration’s opposition to dipping into the Wall Street rescue fund, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
“I would hope that the president who has worked so well with us the past few weeks on this legislation would now consider using the TARP money to help the auto industry and the workers of this country,” he said.
Democrats initially pushed for a portion of the funds for the auto bailout but the Bush administration refused.
The White House, which suffered a stinging political defeat after backing the Democrats’ proposal for the short-term auto rescue loans, did not say if it would relent on freeing up the financial bailout funds.
General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC are seeking billions of dollars in immediate aid, while Ford Motor Co wants a hefty line of credit.
As prospects for passage dimmed, US blue chips on Thursday tumbled 195.85 points (2.24 percent) to 8,565.57 at the closing bell while the NASDAQ fell 57.60 points (3.68 percent) to 1,507.88.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS