Immediately after the economic stimulus legislation passed the House without any Republican support, Republican members of Congress hustled back to their districts to take credit for the recovery funding. More recently, the administration executed a congressionally approved strategy to finance two major automakers, General Motors and Chrysler, through bankruptcy. The other likely scenario was liquidation, and though both automakers had to make serious sacrifices in terms of lay-offs and closing dealers, the economic impact has been blunted by the government's actions. But facing political pressure from local auto dealerships, a number of congressmen are proposing legislation that would have the effect of re-opening the closed dealers. (Two similar bills are proposed; one, H.R. 2743, has support in the Democratic leadership, and the other, H.R. 2750, is mainly supported by Republicans.)
The members of Congress who voted for the original automaker rescue can legitimately support this legislation, since it would have some positive economic impact, though it seems pretty clear that forcing automakers to keep these dealerships open is unsustainable and the same model that led to bankruptcy in the first place. But the real hypocrisy is displayed by those members who opposed the automaker rescue because the government shouldn't be involved in the private sector and now seem to think that the government should tell automakers how to run their businesses. TAP's Chris Sopher checked out voting records to compile this list of Republicans who couldn't bear to support financing for GM and Chrysler -- which, again, prevented the collapse of both companies -- but now believe that same financing should protect dealerships:
Roscoe Bartlett, R-MD
Patrick McHenry, R-NC
Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-CA
Devin Nunes, R-CA
Michael Simpson, R-ID
Patrick Tiberi, R-OH
Michael Turner, R-OH
Ed Whitfield, R-KY
CW Bill Young, R-FL
Looks like these folks have some explaining to do. That said, I'm not convinced this legislation will get anywhere near being law. The Democrats could pass it in the House, but it will die in the Senate and likely face understated opposition in the White House -- Steve Rattner and the rest of the auto task force didn't spend months forcing concessions on all parties involved just to see Congress turn over their work, upsetting the already delicate financial structure at the two recovering car companies.
-- Tim Fernholz
