Tonight Harry Reid called for cloture on the auto bill, knowing he didn’t have the votes.
Chris Dodd spoke for working people, and expressed his disbelief that the Senate could let this happen right now (YouTube). Talk about your War on Christmas.
Corker of Tennesee then went on to make an impassioned speech about how close they came to a deal, the only sticking point was that the UAW wouldn’t commit to a date to accept salary parity with what workers in foreign auto companies make. Mind you, the Republicans didn’t ask for commitments from dealers or creditors or bond holders or suppliers, just blue collar workers. So that was really where the only problem was going to arise.
Funny, none of these bastards demanded wage and benefit cuts for Wall Street workers in the $700 billion bank bailout.
Before the vote, Reid said "I dread looking at Wall Street tomorrow" — with a smile.
When I suggested that Reid call their bluff and make the Republicans filibuster and watch as the stock market tanked in their wake, I never thought he’d do it. Gotta hand it to him — for the time being any way, he’s not letting the red state culture warriors railroad the unions.
Final vote: 52-35, with Tester and Lincoln defecting from the Dems.
Reid says the Senate is now in pro-forma session and they don’t anticipate reconvening before next year.
We’re now in a giant game of chicken. Will Bush and Paulson blink?
Update: Reid statement –
"Given the unhappy choice between a bridge loan and bankruptcy, Democrats have always believed that we must give the Big Three and the millions of Americans they employ every possible chance to succeed.
"By rejecting every good-faith bipartisan compromise – including those from the White House and Senator Bob Corker – it is now abundantly clear that Republicans have no interest in keeping the Big Three from collapsing.
"Because Republicans failed to act, three million Americans are more likely than ever to lose their jobs and our economy is at risk of suffering even greater damage. Our hearts go out to those families who will now have to deal with this burden as the holidays near.
"Republicans may think that rejecting this legislation sent a message to the auto industry. Instead, they sent a message to every single American that they are more interested in settling scores than solving problems."
I think this erases all doubt — the Republicans quite plainly want the economy to fail.
Update II, per Atrios: Futures already plunging.
Update III: Is Bush blinking?
Related posts:
- Senate Fails First Cloture Vote on “Doc Fix”
- Bob Corker, After Begging for Auto Bankruptcy, Wants Dealers Exempted
- Lieberman-Graham Threaten to Shut Down Senate, Add Detainee Photo Suppresion Amendment to FDA Tobacco Regulation Bill
- Senate Health Care Bill Still Unsettled on a Host of Issues
- Rockefeller, Brown, Boxer to Push Reid on Including Public Option in Senate Bill Today
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Sorry. Bad mood tonight.
fuck
Bloody freaken HELL.
driving by with a “fuck, indeed”
I think I know why Blanche voted no, but Tester?
Fuckity fuck fuckit!
Kit Bond is nervous on this one, I think. He voted no at first, and then when it became evident that it would not pass, he switched his vote to yes. And he’s got good reason to be nervous.
Anheuser-Busch announced this week that they are in the process of laying off over a thousand workers in St. Louis, after they were bought out by InBev. Things are not good in Missouri, and I think Bond could hear the phones ringing already from angry auto workers and parts suppliers around the state.
I hope he loses a lot of sleep over this in the next couple of weeks, because he and his GOP pals sure have earned it on this one.
I for one intend to find out and give him a piece of my mind. I do not want to see him do a Baucus on us.
Digg this
Local Springfield, MO, news reporting at least 4 Office Depot’s closing down for good.
As I said in previous post comment, I think Bernanke is setting things up administratively for Fed to make direct loans to businesses. So that is something to watch.
Can we call it a Depression now?
Oh, wait The Republican Depression.
fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, bacon and fuck
It appears that the people need to step up and go for some
DIRECT ACTION
I have been calling for this for years and these jerks in the beltway destroy the nation and the world.
Is Bush also going to light a bag of shit and leave it on the Whitehouse stoop for Obama?
With that and the news of the latest Wall Street scam and the reports of hundreds of bodies being spirited away in Afghanistan by the US war criminal ally, things are looking grim.
The nation is collapsing in on itself.
-G
Here’s my email to McConnell and Shelby:
Senator-
With all due respect, you are not an economist, and not an expert in business. Please stop trying to dig America further into its own grave. Many of us understand that you want to make things impossible for the President-Elect, to prove your failed partisan ideology.
Where are your farmers going to buy their pickup trucks when the domestic auto makers go bankrupt? How many Toyota Tundras are on Alabama and Kentucky farms right now? What about Hyundais? Those of us who are familiar with the auto industry are cognizant of the breadth and depth of the impact of the failure of the auto industry. Apparently you want your Cadillacs “Made in China”, just like the melamine-tainted dog food and milk, and the lead-painted toys of last Christmas.
We understand you just want to break the unions. Thanks for working so hard for the future of your grandchildren, and their children. Maybe they’ll be back to working 7 day weeks starting when they turn 12 or 13, just for sustenance. Your ignorance, if that’s what it is, is breath-taking. Otherwise, its un-Christian cynicism and vindictiveness, as well as unAmerican disregard and contempt for the legacy of the men and women that mobilized our industry for WWII.
From the Boycott Alabama Now web site:
The problem WAS and is in fact caused by the financial situation. We are now told that we have officially been in a recession since late 2007. All the members of congress had to do was to call any hard working family and ask them how things were going. We would have advised congress that the economy was in trouble and we are concerned. Combine that with the housing crisis, major loss of housing value, and the banking crisis which congress failed to correct. The U.S. auto industry (including transplants) have seen the yearly sales figures drop from about 17 million units to less than 11 million units. In November of 2008, Toyota sales were down almost 34% – 4% more than Ford. Prius sales were down almost 50%. How could the best mileage car sales down 50%? The answer is easy; No credit, no jobs and a teetering economy. The fact is that people are scared to make any big purchase due to the financial situation, the recession and the drying up of available credit. The auto companies had nothing to do with this crisis.
Quit trying to make up for the free pass you gave Wall Street, by kicking Main Street in the crotch. Retire now – you are incompetent and a threat to the security of our country. I live in Michigan, but I do not work in the auto industry. Even so, you threaten my livelihood – will my employer stay in business when the state, national, and world economy implodes even further?
Your legacy is now a disgrace. Hoover didn’t have anything on you.
Snarlin’ Arlen just recited the names of 10 Rethug senators who voted yes.
I didn’t hear the names of the two senators who represent my state (Brownback and Roberts) Did I miss them, or am I going to have to picket their offices tomorrow?
Time to take to the streets. Billions for the rich and spit for the workers. I think we need to remind them who the government really is. They have been waging a class war against us for 30 years and it is damned well long past time we fought back.
Pitchforks and lanterns time…
Emailed Baucus earlier tonight when he was against the bailout and threatened to vote for a Republican before I would vote for him again.
Tumbrels ho!
I didn’t hear the names of the two senators who
representare elected from my state (Brownback and Roberts) Did I miss them, or am I going to have to picket their offices tomorrow?correction
Union member here (IAFF) and I’d love to effect some direct action or protest, but alas — there’s that pesky “essential employees” thing which directs that duty employees must report to work. Will be reaching out to my reps in the meantime.
Fuck.
Reid didn’t call anyone’s bluff. He didn’t have the votes.
Currently
Hang Seng down 7.23%
Nikkei down 6.09%
He could’ve sold out the unions, he didn’t. He would’ve had the votes.
Yep.
Love RevBev’s [epu’d] comment:
Official vote roll call link. Anyone?
anybody seen a roll call voting list yet?
Jane, that wasn’t a smile on Reid’s face. It was a shit eatin grin for the sake of his “esteemed colleagues” across the aisle. What a bunch of f#@kin assholes!
what do I owe you, shooogarp? *g*
And on the NYT front page, the unions are accused as the cause of the bailout failure:
(My bold)
And as other TradeMed slavishly follow the NYT’s lead, expect much more TradeMed blame to fall on the unions.
Harry Reid could call my dead granny’s bluff. Either of my grannies when alive could have kicked his ass clear across the county.
we need to find a way to change that
The only street action we’ll ever see from Americans won’t come until the soup lines form. We’re all working too hard to hang on to what we have to go out into the streets. Well, once the GOP drives enough of us into unemployment we’ll have lots of time for social protests. Get ready, you republican bastards.
Reid would have a hard time calling anyone’s bluff. He can’t even call his own any more: he’s just a placeholder.
The actual roll call vote will be made available here… It’s not available until one hour after the vote is concluded…
Is Specter doing a phglematic and Saturnine, overly placid and deeply boring Senatorial chew out of GOP? or leaderhsip? or what? Senators like Specter are too deep into the weeds for me.
that should read “Harry Reid couldn’t call my dead granny’s bluff”
See my 38…!
What al quaida could only dream of has been accomplished by the Republican Party and their quisling collaborators in the Democratic Party.
Is Specter going to make some kind of motion to continue the debate somehow? Or is he just blowing off steam?
What precisely were the Democrats willing to leave the unions? Serious question.
The narrative is set. Now for Limbaugh and the rest of the pricks to beat the drum all day as the world market turns into a sinkhole.
These are dark times.
-G
Amazing how they fell over themselves to give 700BB to wall street and banks and did it lickity split, but a when it comes to helping 3mm people keep their jobs they could care less.
Total assholes.
Obama had better give a press conference and announce that he will turn this around the minute he is sworn in.
Fuck. Fuck this fucking shit. FUCK!
The unions were once willing to fight it out in the streets. They may well have to do it again. This time they won’t be alone.
Crawling From the Wreckage
Blowing off steam.
Pitchforks, torches, and tumbrels!
GM will be bankrupt in 3 weeks.
marcy’s take on this upstairs
Let’s not forget this money is less than is spent in TWO months for Iraq/Afghanistan operations.
Today’s GOP, Americans last.
-G
I think this is just Specter’s “way”.
He referred to Senate as the “greatest deliberative body in the world”. I guess he has a dry sense of humor at times, but his delivery is hopeless.
OK, so Brownback voted yes and Roberts (newly re-elected, doesn’t have to face voters for 6 years) voted no
I will be picketing in front of Roberts’s office tomorrow
Oh, DrDick!
Pitchforks, torches, and tumbrels, indeed!
I am just way too pissed off and depressed by this (especially Tester). think I will go quietly drink myself to death. Night all.
The GOP was demanding that the unions agree to a deadline of March of next year to cut wages for workers so that they were at parity with non-union workers in foreign auto plants.
The union had already agreed to this, but they were doing it over time and through attrition — as older, higher waged workers retired they’d be replaced by lower paid workers. That way they didn’t force people to take a pay cut.
The Republicans were demanding that they all take immediate pay cuts. Because nothing was being demanded of any of the other “stakeholders” — banks, dealers, suppliers, etc — the Dems said no.
It was the only sticking point. “Three words,” as Corker said.
‘Fuck the unions’?
I guess the salary of a Senator, and the perks, is enough protective insulation for what is now going to become a full blown economic depression.
fuck the economy
i wanna see headlines like the old ‘ford to nyc: drop dead’ but with ‘rep senators to economy: drop dead’
I’m sorry, Jane, but that all seems like kabuki to me. If unionized workers can only expect what non-unionized workers have, what is the point of having a union? The difference between Republicans and Democrats seems primarily how quickly that was to happen. That doesn’t look like standing up for unions as far as I can see. And look to at Harry Reid. This is not the first time he has given a speech decrying something he essentially let the Republicans get away with. Why didn’t he force the Republicans right now to begin a filibuster and promise them they would have to continue until hell froze over or they saw reason? Because it was kabuki. And more, I think it is the very opposite of leadership that he is willing to let the country slide into depression just to show the Republicans how shortsighted they were.
Why didn’t the 52 yea votes go nuclear?
It takes 60 votes to override a filibuster, but only 51 to get rid of the filibuster, either for one particular measure, or in general.
Why are we going to let 35 idiots bring down the economy? So we will be able to look down from the moral high ground, and blame them later for the disaster that ensues? Wouldn’t it be a lot better, and, you know, what the electorate entrusted the Dems with the majority for in 2006, to actually use the power so entrusted to prevent the bad things from happening, traditions of the Senate be damned?
WTF is up with Tester?
I don’t get the cloture thing. Doesn’t Reid have to call for a physical filibuster from the Republicans to keep this from being a dead bill?
Interesting: When I followed the “52-35″ link above it shows that Harry Reid voted against it!
Reid (D-NV), Nay – #53
Kennedy – didn’t vote – #54
Biden – didn’t vote – #55
John Kerry – didn’t vote – #56
Chuch Hagel – didn’t vote – #57
Wyden – didn’t vote – #58
Two more votes (Baucus and Lincoln) or from the non-voters or a little arm-twisting by BushCo and it might have been a done-deal.
He did force them to filibuster, Hugh.
That thing where they make them stand on the floor and talk all night — doesn’t happen any more. Rules changed decades ago.
Reid’s “nay” vote was something he has to do so he can bring it up again, a formality.
I went looking at the Senate Roll Call Vote, before reading this article. I see the failed vote for cloture from yesterday, same one that is linked here as 52-35.
When I go to that, and it is the only Senate vote listed from yesterday or today, it is specifically for the relief of the Alternative Minimum Tax. Looking at the text of the legislation in Thomas, the bill is super short, and there is nothing I see about auto industry in there.
So either Senate Roll Call links/cites the wrong legislation voted upon, or the vote isn’t up yet. From what I can see this isn’t the vote.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am going to take this Roll Call Vote to point out that Senator (hopefully not for long) Norm Coleman just voted for a huge tax increase. That is the logic that Republicans use all the time, and it is time we turned it around on them.