Motown Senator Stabenow Plays Bailout Both Ways

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Make no mistake: Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow is solidly in Detroit’s pocket. Stabenow lobbied hard to slip the $25b bailout Department of Energy auto industry retooling loans into a congressional housekeeping bill. So why did The Debster vote against the Senate version of the $700b Wall Street bailout, a bill sufficiently beloved by Motown that GM CEO Rick Wagoner felt compelled to send his dealers a “lobby the bitches’ for this one” SOS? According to the Chicago Trib, her office released a three-paragraph statement Wednesday night that highlighted her “concerns.” “Hardworking families in Michigan are in crisis every single day and the bill passed by the Senate tonight does little to help them,” Stabenow’s statement said. The bill was “fundamentally the wrong approach to fixing our economy.” So what’s the right approach? * crickets chirping * So what’s the real reason for Stabenow’s vote against the bill? She knew her vote wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference– except to voters back home. As for her friends in Detroit… “Stabenow submitted a ‘colloquy’ into the Senate record after the vote with Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., making clear that the bailout provisions would apply to auto financing companies. ‘I want to commend Chairman Dodd for his leadership on this bill… the credit crisis is having a significant impact on the hardworking men and women at GM in Michigan and throughout the country who proudly build American-made cars and trucks; the men and women who sell and finance Chrysler vehicles; and the individuals who service Ford vehicles in dealerships throughout the country.'” God I hate politics.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • 50merc 50merc on Oct 02, 2008

    So Stabenow thought “Hardworking families in Michigan are in crisis every single day and the bill passed by the Senate tonight does little to help them”? What does she want--legislation to hand out buckets of coal to those families? The real purpose of the bill was to keep the credit markets from shutting down. Since she says "the credit crisis is having a significant impact" on the auto industry, one suspects her "Nay" on the $700B was just to pander to her constituents, since the bill was sure to pass the Senate. No matter what happens to the "Wall Street Bailout," Michigan will still have to figure out how it can end the downward spiral it's in. Or as they say, stop digging the hole.

  • BuzzDog BuzzDog on Oct 03, 2008

    @prince valiant: The police report stated that he paid $120 for a hummer. An H2, or am H3? Honestly, I knew that the resale on those things wasn't too hot, but this beats all... ;)

  • Anonymous Anonymous on Oct 03, 2008

    As far as I know the Congressional Black caucus voted against the bill in the house since they removed the pork for ACORN. The Senate bill that passed was full of pork. Just a disgrace and it shows why the economy is such a mess.

  • 210delray 210delray on Oct 03, 2008

    I think this whole "pork" thing has become a convenient punching bag. If you take Obama at his word, pork spending amounts to about $18 billion a year, not small potatoes, but a tiny drop in the bucket compared to overall spending. Besides, what's one man's pork is another man's beef. (That's why one's own congressional representatives are popular, as cited above.) And is it so awful that former Congressman Bud Shuster secured some funds to have the "Bud Shuster By-Way" constructed around the town of Everett, PA? Or that Sen. Byrd of WV has gotten tons of money to build many "Robert Byrd Highways" in his home state? As a Virginian traveling to PA, OH, and IN, these roads help me too, not just the locals. Sure, WV has good driving roads with a lot of twisties, but if you want to make time, the Robert Byrd highways fit the bill. Only thing I'm old school on is that IMO infrastructure shouldn't be named after people who are still alive. Back to Stabenow and her weight, maybe she eats too much of the bacon she brings home!

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