Monday's US Auto bailout news

As expected there is plenty to report from the day.

First off, Congress did not make much headway in putting forth a bailout solution. They are still trying to carve out aid from the 700 billion dollar TARP package and the White House still wants to use the 25 billion dollar auto "re-tool" allotment. In typical Washington fashion, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would hold a test vote this week on a broad economic aid plan that includes everything but the kitchen sink. Then he admits that this will probably fail and so his next effort would be to seek a vote on the auto industry bailout with unemployment benefits package. He has until Friday, so I suppose he knows what he is doing.

Next up, General Motors will delay incentive payments to dealers next week in an effort to save cash. This is an interesting announcement that can save the company about 300 million dollars over the course of the next two weeks. While this may help GM now, it causes the dealers a delay of up to two weeks to get their cash. Apparently, this is OK with the dealers, but what choice do they have?

Here is my last update for today. Senator Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said that automakers who receive federal aid should double the fuel economy of their fleets by 2020. Now we're talkin'! I like how this Senator thinks but I am sure that no such strings will be attached to a bailout. Nelson goes on to say that a fleetwide average of 35 mpg by 2020 is not enough and that he sees no point in handing out more money to automakers that resist higher mpg vehicles.

Whew. Hang on folks!