According to a Fox News Opinion poll, 58% of the American public are against the $14 Billion Big Auto bailout.
Last night, the U.S. House ignored public sentiments (not that that's wrong in and of itself), and passed the bill 237-170.
It's very important to look at the votes and issue a scorecard for Republicans:
Wisconsin:
Tom Petri- voted AGAINST the bill. Good vote.
Paul Ryan- voted FOR the bill. Ryan's vote is the one that concerns me more than any surrounding the whole situation. He was named as a possible "conservative" VP candidate for the McCain ticket. For a man who recently wrote in the November 25th issue of The Journal Times, "the road to economic recovery has been singularly focused on government spending. If economic growth were simply a function of government spending, our unprecedented spending from the public sector should produce unprecedented growth in the private sector. The failure of such fiscal stimulus proposals is obvious: government depends on the economy for its resources – not the other way around. As a recent study from the Heritage Foundation states, “Every dollar that government ‘injects’ into the economy must first be taxed or borrowed from the economy. No new spending power is created. It is merely redistributed from one group of people to another, " he surely didn't put his money where his mouth is. (Emphasis added by Founder's Porch). I'm usually an enormous fan of Rep. Ryan's, but maybe he'd had one too many Miller Lites before making this vote.
Jim Sensenbrenner- did not vote. He is currently in Poland at the global warming summit. No word if he's found magical coolant there.
Virginia:
Cantor- voted AGAINST the bill
Drake- voted AGAINST the bill
Forbes- voted AGAINST the bill
Goode- voted AGAINST the bill
Goodlatte- voted AGAINST the bill
Wittman- voted AGAINST the bill
Wolf- voted AGAINST the bill
Minnesota:
Michelle Bachmann- voted AGAINST it. It's very nice to never have to worry about whether Bachmann will waiver from her conservative roots.
John Kline- voted AGAINST it. Mr. Kline, a former Marine colonel and my representative, is a not appreciated as much as he should be by the GOP. In the eyes of any conservative, he should be viewed as a rock star. It's nice to know that my conservative district is being appropriately represented by Rep. Kline.
Jim Ramstad- voted FOR it. Usually I would chastize Rep. Ramstad, but he's on the way out. The important question, then, is whether or not his replacement, Erik Paulsen, would have voted differently. I certainly hope so and will try to contact him to find out.
According to the New York Times, one part of the bill's purpose is to, "immediately bring... workers’ wages in line with foreign companies like Nissan and Volkswagen."
It's a shame that a bill with that language could be supported by Republicans. Luckily, it appears as though the bill will not pass the Senate due, in large part, to Senator Mitch McConnell's opposition.
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This is pretty off-topic, but I need to vent this.
From an Illinois senator on Meet the Press:
"They have not managed that industry the way they should have. And I've been a strong critic of the auto industry's failure to adapt to changing times, building small cars and energy efficient cars that are going to adapt to a new market. But what I've also said is the auto industry is the backbone of the American manufacturing. " and "They're going to have to restructure, and all their stakeholders are going to have to restructure—labor, management, shareholders, creditors—everybody is going to recognize that they have—they do not have a sustainable business model right now."
If only this guy had been running been running GM.
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