Reid: Carmaker aid bill doesn't have needed votes
12/3/2008WASHINGTON Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the Democrats' plan to tap the Wall Street rescue fund to save U.S. automakers doesn't have the votes to pass.
One day after Detroit's Big Three sent survival plans to Capitol Hill in an urgent plea for $34 billion in government aid, Reid said there's still not enough support in Congress for using some of the $700 billion bailout to help the teetering carmakers.
He told The Associated Press in an interview, "I just don't think we have the votes to do that now."
The Bush administration and auto-state Republicans and Democrats are pushing instead to take a $25 billion program to help the carmakers produce green vehicles and convert that into emergency loans.