Dems, White House move toward auto deal

[DainBramaged]

Jolted by the loss of thousands of jobs, congressional Democrats and the White House reached for agreement Friday on about $15 billion in bailout loans for the beleaguered auto industry. President George W. Bush warned that at least one of the Big Three carmakers might not survive the current economic crisis.

Several officials in both parties said a breakthrough on a long-stalled bailout came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bowed to Bush's demand that the aid come from a fund set aside for the production of environmentally friendlier cars. The California Democrat spoke to White House chief of staff Josh Bolten during the day to signal her change in position, they added.

The developments came as desperate auto executives pleaded for a second straight day with lawmakers for loans to help them survive, and the government reported the worst single month’s job loss in 34 years.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28067839/

[David Dunham]

1. Jobs are the most important thing now.

[Poiuyt]

2. Pelosi bowed to Bush's demands

Jesus Christ! How does this guy win every battle? Why can't any Dem stand up to him?

[DainBramaged]

4. Her day is coming, either that or our majority is short lived

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Barney Frank said the plan is to replace the money they are giving to the

auto companies out of the TARP funds after President Obama has assumed the office of President and greater Dem majorities are in Congress. He specifically said they would have a good chance to fight any filibusters that might arise against the new plan after Jan 20.

[DainBramaged]

8. Understood, but Mr. Frank is a bit pissed that Booshe is being allowed

to sink this Country into Depression, fiddling as America burns.

[BrklynLiberal]

13. I don 't blame him. I am really pissed too, and I would bet that P/E Obama is none too thrilled

either..

[Telly Savalas]

12. In this particular case, it's because he has veto power

and she would probably fall well short of assembling a veto-proof majority for any sort bailout. With only a couple of months left in Bush's presidency, she doesn't really have much leverage to get him to sign it. So either it's some sort of caving, or no bailout.

She's been a disaster for the last two years, but in this particular case I don't really see what she could do differently.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. Deal? What I read here is "not one dime"

The only thing they'll do is "loan" money to them from a fund they'd already promised to give to them.

I really don't fucking get it.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. we have to keep our auto industry but

but they need to move production to alternative fuel/electric vehicles. Hopefully Obama will make them shift.

[DainBramaged]

6. We are shifting, as fast as technology and the supply of technology will allow

18 wheelers will never be able to be electrically motivated, it's a matter of physics and limits to battery capacity. Bio-diesel helps, but all DU ever talks about are PASSENGER vehicles. Solutions for industry are just as important.

[amandabeech]

9. Eighteen wheelers won't be electrified, but we can electrify our rail lines.

We can move trailers and containers long and medium distances by electric rail, and save the diesel (and biodiesel) for shorter trips.

Even current diesel electric trains use 4 times less diesel than the tractor-trailer combination, and make a lot of sense for long distance shipping.

I think that displaced tractor-trailer drivers should get first dibs on new jobs in the rail industry and at trans-shipment facilities where the containers are unloaded from the rail cars and loaded onto the trailers.

We have electric hybrid drive diesel buses and delivery vehicles now. UPS is now trying the hydraulic hybrid diesel drive in large delivery vehicles. The hydraulic drive is able to capture more of the energy from the breaking than the electric system, and are expected to offer significant fuel savings.

Obviously, city buses and school buses that stop and go a lot would be great candidates for the hybrid hydraulic drive if UPS finds their vehicles to give the mileage they're hoping for and the vehicles are reasonably reliable and repairable.

I don't know if the drive would be able to be installed as a two-piece hook-together mechanism so that tractor trailers on shorter stop-and-go routes could use the hydraulic drive as well.

[DainBramaged]

10. Obama's plans (and the Congress) do not include light rail.

And the single biggest deterrent to revitalizing rail is right of way. The cost of buying the land is too prohibitive to make it worthwhile.

[amandabeech]

11. I'm not talking about light rail.

Right now, rights of ways are being expanded through purchase, especially in the west coming out of the coal fields and in sections of the southern route from California to Texas.

There are also a lot of underused lines and existing rights of way that could be rebuilt for first class service.

There has been a lot of money made in rail companies recently, and it will start up again once the world-wide economy recovers.

Plans without using light rail appropriately are incomplete, really. I'll have to read Obama's again. I thought that he and his staff were actually looking to do something useful.