By Patrick Yoest Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Senate is slated to vote as early as Thursday on a rescue package to aid the U.S. auto industry, but even supporters are casting doubt on the package's fate.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., introduced a proposal Monday to extend $25 billion in loans to the auto industry. The loans would come out of the Treasury Department's $700 billion pool to shore up financial markets, known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
But supporters of an auto-industry rescue say it looks increasingly difficult to muster 60 votes - the number needed to advance the bill past a procedural threshold - when the vote occurs later this week. Many Senate Republicans have expressed reservations about a loan package, and the White House has remained firm on its opposition to new loans.
If the loan package's supporters don't have enough votes, Congress likely will return home without offering any relief to troubled automakers including General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F) and Chrysler LLC.
When Reid was asked what he would do if he didn't reach the 60-vote threshold, he said: "It's not a question of Thanksgiving approaching. It's a question of whether we're just wasting our time here."
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., expressed similar doubts about the auto-industry package.
"I think it's very difficult," Baucus said. "I just think there's not enough time, given the opposition from the White House and the opposition from the other side of the aisle."
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., a key supporter of the package in the Senate, told reporters: "I don't believe there are the votes for any particular approach at this moment."
Senate Democrats discussed the rescue package at their weekly lunch meeting Tuesday. While the White House and some congressional Republicans have advocated the idea of using a $25 billion Department of Energy loan program for high-efficiency vehicles, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., said "there was no indication that there was any traction" among Senate Democrats for the idea of using the Department of Energy program."
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino reiterated her opposition to extending new loans to the auto industry Tuesday.
"I think that we're going to just draw the line at $25 billion that has already been appropriated through the [Department of Energy] program," Perino said.
The White House's stand on the issue has put the efficacy of any congressional action into question, say the rescue package's supporters.
"It'll be almost impossible for us to get anything done if the administration says [the Troubled Asset Relief Program] is inviolate and it can't be used," said Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who supports efforts to provide new loans to the auto industry.
The lack of budge from each side has created a deadlock that has lawmakers looking for different options to pass assistance to the auto industry. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday that lawmakers could return the week of Dec. 8, when many members will already be in town for an economic conference.
But Reid seemed less sanguine about the idea of bringing the Senate back.
"Will I expect a December session? Perish the thought," he said.
-By Patrick Yoest, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-3554; patrick.yoest@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 18, 2008 17:26 ET (22:26 GMT)

Publié le 18 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones