Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Obama Auto Plan Raises Questions, Provokes Impatience

From USAToday.com:

Politicians are starting to weigh in on President Obama's plan for General Motors and Chrysler.

Democratic congressional leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi issued supportive statements. Republicans were more mixed.

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell is impatient. "How many times do the taxpayers have to provide bailout money on the promise of reform?" he asked.

McConnell said Republicans called for "true reform" last year and instead the Bush administration bailed out the companies. "The (Obama) administration says these reforms must now be taken seriously or the taxpayer bailouts will end. While that should have happened tens of billions of dollars ago, we agree that it’s time to get serious," McConnell said.

Bloggers are raising other issues. At The Atlantic, Marc Ambinder wonders if there was any way GM could have satisfied the government's demands. Conservative Ed Morrissey says the new government warranty on GM and Chrysler vehicles amounts to a new federal level DMV.

Doug Heye at The Hill says Obama has created a New Business Order. And the liberal Talking Points Memo wonders why GM CEO Rick Wagoner got the boot, but CEOs of struggling banks are still in their jobs and on the government dole.

Republican Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio said he feels for the two companies' insecure employees and is "extremely disappointed that the administration believes GM and Chrysler did not go far enough in their viability plans."

He also said, however, that he gives the administration credit for insisting on viability and hopes it will be "unrelenting" in its pressure on GM.