Submitted by Rob Wolf:
Congress has tacked an amendment into their newest omnibus U.S. Funding Bill that would allow Chrysler and GM dealerships that were told they had to forfeit their dealerships a second chance. The program is part of a last-minute $447 billion dollar spending bill introduced December 7 by Democrats in the House of Representatives. Basically, this sidebar in the bill would allow dealerships to appeal the government and the auto manufacturers to reinstate them as dealers and keep their doors open. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer are quoted as being very excited about it. However, this may be just more smoke and mirrors.
Last July, Republican Congressman Steven LaTourette of Ohio joined with ninety-nine other senators and sent a letter to Majority Leader Hoyer demanding that locked out auto dealerships be given a fair shake. He managed to get wording into House Bill 3170, which would’ve required automakers to rethink and reinstate soon-to-be-closed dealership in order to secure their government bailout money. This new revision in the current funding bill seems to do away with that as-yet unsettled bill and put the ultimate fate of the dealers in the hands of Congress. If we’re reading it correctly, dealerships would have to plead their case for existence to Congress, not to the auto makers themselves, and Congress would then decide who lives and who dies.
Bear in mind, this is a $447 billion “funding bill” that’s an “omnibus bill.” An omnibus bill is one that has a lot of different things stacked into it, so if one particular issue is important to a senator, they have to vote for the whole package to get their one item. In addition to possibly assisting Chrysler dealerships, this bill includes $10.5 billion for high speed rail projects, it eases long-standing federal abortion restrictions, it pays for drug abuse needle exchange programs, it legalizes medical marijuana in Washington D.C., and it would allow for terrorists held at Guantanamo to be brought to U.S. prisons and provide for them to stand trial in U.S. civil courts. For all of Congressman LaTourette’s efforts, and those of other like-minded conservatives, the effort to help dealerships has been saddled down with an awful lot of ridiculous baggage. A vote is expected in the next day or two.
Congress has tacked an amendment into their newest omnibus U.S. Funding Bill that would allow Chrysler and GM dealerships that were told they had to forfeit their dealerships a second chance. The program is part of a last-minute $447 billion dollar spending bill introduced December 7 by Democrats in the House of Representatives. Basically, this sidebar in the bill would allow dealerships to appeal the government and the auto manufacturers to reinstate them as dealers and keep their doors open. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer are quoted as being very excited about it. However, this may be just more smoke and mirrors.
Last July, Republican Congressman Steven LaTourette of Ohio joined with ninety-nine other senators and sent a letter to Majority Leader Hoyer demanding that locked out auto dealerships be given a fair shake. He managed to get wording into House Bill 3170, which would’ve required automakers to rethink and reinstate soon-to-be-closed dealership in order to secure their government bailout money. This new revision in the current funding bill seems to do away with that as-yet unsettled bill and put the ultimate fate of the dealers in the hands of Congress. If we’re reading it correctly, dealerships would have to plead their case for existence to Congress, not to the auto makers themselves, and Congress would then decide who lives and who dies.
Bear in mind, this is a $447 billion “funding bill” that’s an “omnibus bill.” An omnibus bill is one that has a lot of different things stacked into it, so if one particular issue is important to a senator, they have to vote for the whole package to get their one item. In addition to possibly assisting Chrysler dealerships, this bill includes $10.5 billion for high speed rail projects, it eases long-standing federal abortion restrictions, it pays for drug abuse needle exchange programs, it legalizes medical marijuana in Washington D.C., and it would allow for terrorists held at Guantanamo to be brought to U.S. prisons and provide for them to stand trial in U.S. civil courts. For all of Congressman LaTourette’s efforts, and those of other like-minded conservatives, the effort to help dealerships has been saddled down with an awful lot of ridiculous baggage. A vote is expected in the next day or two.
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