Back in September, the House Republican Leadership failed to make a principled stand against the financial industry bailout despite the fact that the House Minority Leader himself had referred to the proposal as “a crap sandwich.”
Now, with a vote on a proposed bailout of the Big Three automakers days if not hours away, they’re caving again by proposing an “alternative” that is as much a crap sandwich as the Democrats’ bill:
WASHINGTON, DC – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and his House GOP leadership colleagues today introduced an American Automotive Reorganization and Recovery Plan as an alternative to legislation scheduled for a vote today by House Democratic leaders to provide $15 billion of taxpayer funds to the “Big Three” automakers with inadequate assurances that American taxpayers will be reimbursed. Boehner issued the following statement on his opposition to the Democrats’ legislation and the Republican alternative:
“Washington must address the challenges facing the auto industry and our entire economy not through endless taxpayer-funded bailouts that prolong workers’ pain and put taxpayers’ money at risk, but by fixing problems and removing barriers that make it harder for families to prosper. The House Republican American Automotive Reorganization and Recovery Plan protects taxpayers and helps working families by allowing the auto companies to become competitive again without nationalizing an industry that needs real reform, not another taxpayer bailout.
“Let’s be clear: our nation – and my home state of Ohio – needs a healthy auto industry that produces cars Americans want to buy and provides good-paying jobs. But during these difficult economic days, stressed-out families and taxpayers cannot afford to part with another dollar of their hard-earned money without strict assurances that they will recover these funds in short order. The Democrats’ proposal does not provide adequate assurances to ask them to take this substantial risk. Instead of laying the groundwork for the long-term viability of the auto industry, I’m concerned that this proposal asks taxpayers to further subsidize a business model that is failing to meet the needs of American workers and consumers.”
NOTE: House Republican leaders today introduced the American Automotive Reorganization and Recovery Plan to protect taxpayers and help auto workers and their families by allowing the auto companies to become competitive again. Rather than a taxpayer-funded government bailout that replaces private investment, the House GOP plan proposes that the government provide insurance, funded by the participants with a modest FDIC-like fee, which would cover up to 50 percent of the losses of new investment in the case of default, helping to unlock immediate private investment
Here’s a question of John Boehner and the rest of the leadership — what happened to the idea of letting these companies sink or swim on their own ? Why should the government “help” companies that have proven themselves incapable shield themselves from the consequences of three decades of bad business decisions ?
If restructuring is what you want, then we already have a law that allows for it, it’s called the Bankruptcy Code.
Suffice it to say that I’m not impressed.
H/T: Michelle Malkin
