The Senate voted 52-35 for cloture on the Auto bridge loan bill. Failing to reach sixty votes, the Senate will now go home for the holidays, leaving General Motors to go bankrupt. Chrysler will follow shortly after, and then supplier after supplier. Eventually, Ford will also succumb, and the foreign automakers will see their production disrupted by supply chain problems.
Ten Republican senators crossed the aisle to vote with the Democrats, but unfortunately the Democrats did not have Biden and Obama’s votes, several Democrats did not vote, a couple of three Democrats voted against. Harry Reid initially voted yes (meaning we had 53 votes) but changed it to ‘no’ for procedural reasons.
The only hope for the auto industry now is that TARP money is used to float GM until the 111th Congress can be sworn in.
Update [2008-12-12 0:8:18 by BooMan]: Blanche Lincoln, Max Baucus, and Jon Tester voted against cloture. John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Ron Wyden, and Joe Biden did not vote.
