So far I haven't heard much talk about the injustice of California taxpayer dollars being used to bail out an industry that has been fighting lawsuits against the state since 2004. In filing lawsuits against the state, the auto industry clearly showed its disregard for the interests or desires of Californians. That California now help support that industry seems offensive. Rather than bail them out, I would rather see that industry in Chapter 11 as an example--that companies should try to change their products rather than laws.
A timeline of the lawsuits can be read on the Union of Concerned Scientists website Automakers v. the People
Instead, the bailout will likely show the power of lobby groups. The auto industry was a major player in the financial industry bailout. Between the first House vote, which failed, and the second, which passed, the auto industry told congress that their customers could not get car loans unless the credit markets were fixed, and that helped motivate lawmakers. Obama used car loans to explain to the public how the financial industry affected their lives, too, to show the broader implications of the credit crisis. Unless this bailout involves a major takeover of the industry with mandates for the type of fuel-efficient cars that California was demanding and the lobbyists were resisting, it would be a lousy precedent for the Obama administration. He would be aligning himself with the position of pro-business lobby groups and the Bush administration EPA in one of his first acts as president-elect. Similarly, legislators from California, as well as Rhode Island and Vermont which were also sued by the industry, plus the eleven other states that use the California clean air standards--Arizona, Connecticut, New Mexico, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Washington--should vote against the legislation.
Calls to legislators definitely seemed to have an affect after the Paulson proposal. I was so outraged at the original proposal that I set a personal record for calling legislators. I got on such a roll, I called a senator I'd never even heard of, Byron Dorgan from North Dakota, just to have my howl of outrage heard somewhere obscure. "You even called who???" people said to me. Congress was spooked by the outrage.
This time I only called my own legislators in my own state, California. So far, the people answering the phones are not getting as many angry phone calls as before, though the calls they do get are overwhelmingly negative for this bailout, too. Senators Boxer and Feinstein and House members Miller and Tauscher have not made public statements about the issue. Most members of congress seem to realize this will be unpopular, and are currently waiting to see the proposed legislation as well as the depth of the public's outrage. There should not be as much urgency as with the financial bailout; auto industry finances move slower than Wall Street's. If there's pressure from the public, congress might be inclined to wait until the January.