WASHINGTON (AFP)--Lawmakers in Congress braced Sunday for a showdown over Democrats' plan to rescue the struggling U.S. auto industry, with Republicans vowing to derail the $25 billion bailout bid.
Ahead of Monday's start of a "lame duck" post-election, pre-inauguration session, Democrats plugged their efforts to give a massive cash infusion to struggling Big Three automakers, Chrysler, General Motors Corp. (GM) and Ford Motor Co. (F).
"This is not just about an industry or three companies. This is about jobs - 350,000 direct, probably as much as three to five million jobs in total reflecting that industry," U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan, D-ND, argued Sunday on Fox television.
Dorgan said the proposed rescue would provide relief not just to Big Three car makers, but also to the public at large.
"We've got a serious problem. It affects almost everybody in the country," Dorgan said.
"I don't think you long remain a strong economic power in this world unless you have a manufacturing base. And we're talking about a significant part of that manufacturing base as well."
But on the same news network, U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., dismissed the effort as political posturing.
"I wonder if that isn't really the point of the exercise this week, since it's pretty clear that it's not going to pass," he said, adding that Democrats would be advised to wait until after the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.
"I don't speak for every Republican, but I suppose most of us will oppose it as a very bad idea," he said.
The Republican senator added "The business model of the Big Three automakers, all experts have agreed, is a failing model. It's got to be changed. Just giving them $25 billion doesn't change anything. It just puts off for six months or so the day of reckoning."
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 16, 2008 15:11 ET (20:11 GMT)

Publié le 16 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones