TARP passed on October 1, 2008 and it was signed into law on October 3. Yes, indeed, there was money in it that was intended for an Auto Bailout. It was spelled out on the floor of the Senate before the roll call vote. For your convenience, the link below should open to the relevant page of the Congressional Record if you copy and paste it into your browser. Or click the active hyper link in the following block quote.
Congressional Record
October 1, 2008
AUTO FINANCING COMPANY LOANS
Mr. LEVIN. As Treasury implements this new program, it is clear to me from reading the definition of financial institution that auto financing companies institutions that would be eligible sellers to the government. Do you agree?
Mr. DODD. Yes, for purposes of this act, I agree that financial institution may encompass auto financing companies.
Mr. LEVIN. I thank the Senator. It also seems clear from the definition of troubled assets that, should the Treasury Secretary, after consulting with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, determine that purchasing auto loans would promote financial market stability by opening up the market for car sales, that Treasury has the authority to make such purchases, so long as it transmits that determination to Congress.
Mr. DODD. Yes, should the Treasury Secretary, after consulting with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve System, determine that purchasing auto loans is necessary to promote financial market stability and transmits such determination in writing to the Congress, then the Treasury Secretary could engage in such purchases. I am keenly aware of these issues as Chairman of the Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over financial aid to commerce and industry and which wrote the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979.
https://www.congress.gov/crec/2008/10/01/CREC-2008-10-01.pdf#page=46
|
There was much more discussion about the provisions for an Auto Bailout. Refer to the linked Congressional Record. It would be impossible for any member to pretend he didn’t know TARP was for the auto makers, too.
Senator Sanders spoke during the debate to introduce the amendment he sponsored to apply a 10% surtax on incomes over $500,000 for single filers and over $1 million for joint filers. The speech was classic Bernie. Here’s the link to that page of the Record including the text of the amendment for your reading pleasure.
If he wanted to save the middle class, he should have considered the 4 million jobs at stake.
After TARP was passed, representatives from the Big 3 auto makers testified at a hearing before Congress. The industry was in terrible shape and the credit crunch made it worse. The House passed H.R. 7321 on December 10, 2008. It would have provided $14 billion in loans to the auto makers from funds authorized by 2007 the Energy Independence and Security Act for the development of fuel economy technology. It didn’t come to a vote in the Senate where it was blocked by a filibuster.
During the debate on the cloture motion (to break the filibuster), Senator James Inhofe stood against the Auto Bailout and he commended Bernie Sanders for co-sponsoring his bill to block the funds for it. The link goes to the relevant page.
Congressional Record
December 11. 2008
Mr. INHOFE: I cannot support Congress using taxpayer dollars to bail out yet another industry. I can remember when we were talking about this a few weeks ago with the $700 billion bailout. We were talking about this as if this were something that was going to be a one shot deal. I said, standing on this Senate floor, that as soon as this goes through, they are going to start lining up.
I said: You are going to get not just the bankers, you are going to get the auto dealers and the airlines and everybody else out there saying, well, if this is what is out there, bail me out, too. I want to be bailed out.
So this is what is happening. We are now looking at one unelected bureaucrat administering a brand new Government program with taxpayer dollars buying ownership in an industry. I think we have heard this one before. I know the American people have heard this before also.
This is exactly what Secretary Paulson did. I am talking about the massive $700 billion financial bailout legislation. Let’s keep in mind, we are talking about an amount that is far less than that. We are talking about $14 billion.
I remember talking on the Senate floor when it looked as though we had $350 billion that was not going to be used. In fact, Secretary Paulson said— this was interesting—right before we went into recess, Secretary Paulson said: We have no intentions of using, no reason to use the other $350 billion. We have a reserve that we have not spent yet of about $15 billion.
I responded and said: Well, if you do not have any intentions of using it, let’s go ahead and change the system so you cannot use it. I do not want to have us adjourn and find out: Oh, I think we will use another $350 billion, which is comparable to about $2,500 per family filing a tax return.
Well, the Congress gave Secretary Paulson the $700 billion in two installments, and we all know how that second installment is. I have authored two bills. One of them is S. 3683, sponsored by, of all people, BERNIE SANDERS, the one who is a self-proclaimed socialist, a guy who is on the opposite end of the philosophic spectrum from me. Yet he knows this is something that is wise: to have accountability for the $350 billion.
I do not have her name on here, but I think Senator MIKULSKI might also have been on here because I was on the Senate floor with her, and she said it would be a good idea. We have Senators BARRASSO, WICKER, DEMINT, ROBERTS, and VITTER. This legislation would freeze the unexpended expenditures of the original $350 billion and require an affirmative vote—is that asking too much—an affirmative vote to access the remaining $350 billion. It is automatic now. That is all we are asking for.
www.congress.gov/...
|
Inhofe’s bill with a list of the co-sponsors pictured above the headline can be found at this link.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/senate-bill/3683/cosponsors?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22%5C%22s3683%5C%22%22%5D%7D&resultIndex=1
The Senate never voted on a stand alone Auto Bailout bill after the debate that day because it didn’t have 60 votes to break the filibuster. Covering all of his bases, Sanders did vote for the cloture motion. That doesn’t mean he would have voted for the bill and it was pretty clear that the filibuster would hold. There were only 52 votes in favor of proceeding to a vote.
Sanders had one more chance to show where he stood on the Auto Bailout when the Senate returned for a new session after winter recess. On January 15, 2009, Sanders voted in favor a Senate Joint Resolution 5 to disapprove the disbursement of the remaining TARP funds.
Who voted with him to obstruct the newly elected President Barack Obama? The same lousy bunch pictured above the headline. And a handful of other Republicans and Democrats, but not enough for it to pass.
Sen John Barrasso (R-WY)
Sen Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Sen Michael B. Enzi (R-WY)
Sen James Inhofe (R-OK)
Sen Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Sen Richard C. Shelby (R-AL)
Sen David Vitter (R-LA)
Sen Roger F. Wicker (R-MS)