From Bloomberg, “Bush Signals Swift Decision on Funds for GM, Chrysler“:

Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) — President George W. Bush said deliberations by his administration on whether to tap a bank bailout fund to keep General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC out of bankruptcy “won’t be a long process” because of the “fragility” of the U.S. automakers.

The president, traveling on Air Force One from Iraq to Afghanistan last night, said he “signaled” his administration is considering using money from the $700 billion fund. Bush said he’s “not quite ready” to announce any rescue plan.

Also from Bloomberg, “GM, Chrysler Failure Would Push Economy Into Abyss“:

Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. risks sliding into a deeper economic slump if General Motors Corp. or Chrysler LLC shuts down because President George W. Bush doesn’t provide short-term financial assistance.

“We’re already in a deep recession in my state, as we are in most of the 50 states,” Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” yesterday. “And this would just plunge us deeper into economic problems, into a hole that it would take a long, long time to extricate ourselves from.”

A bankruptcy filing by either company would mean production cuts and plant closings, and tens of thousands of workers would be fired, industry analysts say. That would cause many suppliers to collapse, triggering more job losses, straining the cities and states where the car and parts companies operate, as well as federal safety-net programs.

From CQ Politics, “Reid Seeking To Set Up Series of Senate Auto Bailout Votes“:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was working Thursday to set up Senate votes on alternative approaches to an auto industry bailout. But he wasn’t making much headway.

Reid, D-Nev., huddled with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., attempting to work out a unanimous consent agreement on a limited number of full alternatives.

If that effort fails, Reid warned, he will make one effort Friday to proceed to a shell bill (HR 7005) that would be the vehicle for action, and toss in the towel if he is blocked in that attempt.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made his opposition clear in a floor statement this morning, listing his specific objections. He argued for an amendment sponsored by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN).

Text of the Corker amendment is here. Corker made the case in a Detroit News op-ed today, “Loan conditions must fix automakers’ problems.”

You can read it here, at the site of the Senate Conservative Fund.

UPDATE (1:35 p.m.): White House Press Secretary Dana Perino and Deputy Chief of Staff Joel Kaplan just briefed the press on the latest developments. In extended entry…

Where have we seen that headline before?

Detroit News:

Inaction on automakers would cost taxpayers billions

WASHINGTON — The U.S. auto industry’s problems will cost taxpayers plenty whether or not the government helps Detroit. - 10:22 am

Dems, White House agree to $15B auto bailout
GMAC extends deadline for tender offers
Stocks rise on optimism about Detroit bailout
Ford execs say company differs from U.S. competition
Car czar more likely a banker than gearhead
GM to offer lower loan rates
Lopez: Haircut politics bad for Big Three
Iacocca shows support for Big 3 leaders

PDF: Draft of auto bill
PDF: Summary of the auto rescue bill

Within the last hour…

• New York Times, “Democratic Leaders Push to Complete Auto Rescue Plan“
• Reuters, “Sen. Reid awaits word on bank bailout fund“
• Bloomberg, “Automaker Bailout Plan May Be Completed By Tonight, Reid Says“
• Detroit News, “Reid says auto deal could come in hours“ 

Two items, one linked to but now sufficiently highlighted yesterday, the Detroit Free Press editorial, “Hey, America: Detroit’s automakers are asking for a loan“:

Can we get something straight between Detroit and the rest of America?

What the auto industry is seeking in Washington is a loan, L-O-A-N, as in something you borrow and then pay back — with interest.

This is not a gift, a grant or a handout. It’s a loan, the kind of thing financial institutions used to do before they all had to scurry to Washington for their own bailouts, which have been far bigger and subjected to considerably less scrutiny than this loan that the auto industry desperately needs to keep operating — and keep millions of people employed.

And an interesting suggestion from Hugh Hewitt, law professor, radio host, Republican, blogger, “Should the GOP Bargain On The Bailout?”

If the GOP’s leadership in the Senate calculates that it must go along with the bailout of the Big Three because of the overall weakness in the economy, I hope they at least bargain for some concession such as a giant tax restructuring for Michigan and Ohio, a demonstration project on the economic effects of tax reform.  If the UAW and industry supporters are going to succeed in opening a fiscal lifeline to Detroit, couldn’t the GOP at least demand that all of Michigan and Ohio provide a demonstration of what a lower corporate tax rate can mean for an economy.  Call them Irish Zones, after the tax policy of the Republic of Ireland, and declare that companies headquartered in Michigan or Ohio will pay 12.5% corporate tax, as all corporations do in Ireland.

Related story: The New York Times runs a post-mortem on the Saturn experiment at GM.

Links all fixed…

The Detroit-based domestic auto industry submits its plans…

From The Detroit News, “Survival roadmap for the Big 3“:

WASHINGTON — Detroit’s Big Three automakers made a desperate plea for a $34 billion emergency federal bailout Tuesday, as General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC warned they would collapse by the end of the year without immediate help.

The automakers delivered new business plans to Congress written during the last 11 days that for the first time spelled out in great detail the problems they face and the painful steps they must take to survive and restore profits amid plunging auto sales and a bleak outlook for 2009.

The recovery plans exposed how conditions have worsened dramatically in the past two weeks since GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. made their initial request to Congress for $25 billion and came as the industry reported a nearly 40 percent drop in November sales, the worst sales month in 26 years.

And more from the News:

• Survival roadmap for the Big 3
• Chrysler: Warns it needs loan to stay in business
• GM: Needs $4B in December to stay afloat
• Ford: Seeks line of credit, just in case

The Detroit papers do a fantastic job covering the industry’s condition, arguments and broader impact on the economy. Here’s the Detroit Free Press:

• GM, Chrysler’s plea: Aid to survive month

General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC warned Tuesday they could collapse without federal aid before the end of the month, as they joined with Ford Motor Co. to urge $34 billion in loans and to press lawmakers to resolve a standoff threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs.

• Video: First pitch ‘not our finest hour’
• Michigan knows jobs can leave forever
• Chrysler: Allies eyed; electrics in works
• Ford: Cost cuts, new vehicles promised
• GM: Shrink brands, pay, jobs, dealers

A look around at the coverage:

Reuters, “U.S. automakers rush to finish plans for Congress“:

DETROIT/WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - U.S. automakers rushed to submit restructuring plans demanded by Congress before lawmakers reopen debate on a $25 billion bailout the industry says it needs to survive.

Under fire for fighting fuel standards for years, the Detroit-based automakers are expected to present plans that call for them to build more fuel-efficient cars, ax unpopular brands, cap executive compensation and restructure their agreements with the United Auto Workers union.

Associated Press, “Auto Workers to hold emergency meeting on bailout“:

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Local United Auto Workers leaders from across the country will hold an emergency meeting in Detroit on Wednesday to discuss concessions the union could make to help auto companies get government loans.

UAW leaders called the meeting Monday night in an e-mail, obtained by The Associated Press, to local union presidents and bargaining chairmen.

Among the subjects to be discussed at the meeting will be the possibility of restructuring the union-administered health care fund so that the automakers can delay payments to the multibillion-dollar fund, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The union leaders will also discuss potentially eliminating the jobs bank, in which laid-off workers keep receiving most of their pay.

• Marketwatch, “Auto execs prepare for second run at Washington“
• Bloomberg, “Canadian Autoworkers’ Jobs Would ‘Take a Hit’ in US Bailout“
• BusinessWeek, “Auto Workers to hold emergency meeting on bailout“ 

Finally,  Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne pounds the class warfare drums in his op-ed today, “Crunch Time for the Big 3,” making the comment, “A hideous class bigotry has disfigured this debate.”

You can’t have bigotry without bigots, and to Dionne those bigots are the people who have criticized the UAW and organized labor for exorbitant contracts.

Look, there’s enough blame to go around here, but you sure shouldn’t exempt organized labor from criticism, and criticism does not equal bigotry. Consider the UAW e-mail cited above: “The union leaders will also discuss potentially eliminating the jobs bank, in which laid-off workers keep receiving most of their pay.” Job banks?

Dionne’s comment is even more distasteful when you look at the sentence that immediately precedes it: “If saving our auto industry means moving GM workers ever closer to Wal-Mart wages, the bailout isn’t worth doing.”

Implicitly demeaning Wal-Mart workers as so unworthy that just moving “ever closer” to their wages — what, 1 percent, 2 percent closer? — justifies shuttering the Detroit automakers is as good of an example of “hideous class bigotry” you’ll find in this debate.

We inserted a YouTube video of Bobby Bare singing “Detroit City” yesterday into the post about auto industry aid, mostly because we had an excuse to insert a video of Bobby Bare. Twelve-string guitar!

A colleague suggested the message was muddled because, in fact, the song’s narrator does not want to return to Detroit. He’s thinking leaving Detroit to head home.

Last night I went to sleep in Detroit city,
And I dreamed about those cotton fields and home.

We understand that to be a clear reference to more flexible work rules and reasonable wage rates of the auto industry in states like Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and South Carolina.

In any case, here’s Bobby in Norway:

From Norway to Canada. This story was played prominently in today’s National Post (Canada), “Union concessions must be part of auto bailout plan: Clement“:

The federal Industry Minister warned the Canadian Auto Workers union Monday night it must be prepared to make concessions as part of a federal government aid plan to help the ailing Detroit-based auto manufacturers.

“It’s got to be a message that’s got to be heard by the union,” Tony Clement said in an interview with CPAC, the privately-owned public-affairs channel. “There’s a lot of transformation that has to occur — let’s put it that way.”

Mr. Clement is the first federal politician to indicate that union concessions must be part of an overall plan to help rescue General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC.

Back in the USA, from Marketwatch, “Fed unveils $200 billion plan to bolster consumer lending“: “NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The Federal Reserve unveiled Tuesday what it called a term asset-backed securities loan facility, a plan under which it will lend up to $200 billion to support the issuance of debt backed by consumer and small-business debt, such as credit-card loans, student debt, auto loans and loans backed by the Small Business Administration.”

That’s Bobby Bare there, singing “Detroit City.” Can imagine any number of people testifying before Congress last week recalling the line, “Oh, how I wanna go home.”

USA Today, “Officials say auto CEOs must be specific on bailout plans”

Auto executives need to provide more specifics about how they plan to spend taxpayers’ money and crimp their highflying lifestyles if they hope to get aid from the federal government, congressional leaders and key members of the incoming Obama administration said Sunday.
“What we can’t give is a blank check for an industry that isn’t prepared to retool itself,” David Axelrod, a senior adviser to President-elect Barack Obama, said on Fox News Sunday.

“I would hope they will come back to Washington in early December on commercial flights with a plan to do that.”

Milwaukie Journal-Sentinel, “Detroit’s fight hits home in Wisconsin“:

If Congress cannot agree soon on a plan to provide taxpayer-funded loans to the auto industry, the effects will be felt far beyond Detroit, Kenosha car dealer Andy Palmen said Thursday. …[snip]

Palmen, president of Palmen Motors, spent two days in Washington talking to members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation and attending hearings at which chief executives of auto companies testified.

“I felt it was imperative to go because I didn’t want the face of this situation to be misrepresented,” he said. “It was all about the auto executives and top union officials. I wanted to make sure our congressmen and senators saw the ripple effect across the nation would be far greater than their (auto) plants.”

Frank Beckman, WJR, in the Detroit News, “Members of Congress, not auto execs, deserve grilling“:

[Auto] execs Rick Wagoner of General Motors, Alan Mulally of Ford and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler, along with United Auto Workers boss Ron Gettelfinger, were grilled by the ultimate second guessers, the politicians, most of whom don’t have education degrees in economic fields or experience in making decisions on private employment, inventory and global competition.

One wishes the four could have asked the questions instead this week.

Why did members of Congress — such as House Banking Chairman Barney Frank, Senate Banking Chairman Christoper Dodd and others — raise fuel economy standards, adding more than $85 billion in costs as the industry was restructuring itself?

If the reason was forcing automakers to deal with higher gasoline prices, perhaps the politicians could explain why they have made fuel more scarce by blocking domestic drilling for oil and preventing new refineries from being built during the past three decades.

And more…

• New York Times, “Big Three’s Troubles May Touch Financial Sector”
  Detroit Free Press, “Detroit’s new plan: Drive point to Congress“
• Detroit News, “Distressed carmakers bank on lobbying“
• Los Angeles Times, The auto industry hits home for American families“