S10890 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 11, 2008 

offer that. It would be very easy to do. 

We could vote on a Republican alternative, we would have a vote on the 

White House proposal now before the 

Senate, and we would vote on the bill 

that passed the House and leave here. 

If that is not something the Republicans choose to do, then we will vote 

tomorrow on a motion to proceed to 

the bill that has been prepared, drafted, and had input on by the two committees and the White House. If we are 

not allowed to proceed to that, then 

we, in fact, will be through with this, 

as we have been through with numerous pieces of legislation through the 

past year. 

So, again, I invite the Republicans, if 

they have an alternative, to put it forward. They have had ample opportunity to do that. Again, I have received a number of phone calls from 

Republicans today saying: I have just 

the thing that needs to be done to 

make this a great piece of legislation. 

Well, I would hope they would be ready 

to do that. If not, we will have a vote 

tomorrow on a motion to proceed to 

H.R. 7005. 

Mr. President, I suggest the absence 

of a quorum. 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll. 

The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. 

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent that the order for 

the quorum call be rescinded. 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. 

f 

RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 

leadership time is reserved. 

f 

MORNING BUSINESS 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 

Senate will proceed to a period of 

morning business for 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 

minutes each. 

f 

ORDER OF PROCEDURE 

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, my understanding was that if possible—I 

made some calls earlier today that 

that may be waived and that I go up to 

25 minutes. 

Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from 

Tennessee be given the amount of time 

he wants, and immediately following 

that, that I would be recognized for 

such time as I shall consume. 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Oklahoma 

have a sense for how much time that 

will be? 

Mr. INHOFE. About 15 minutes. 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. 

The Senator from Tennessee is recognized. 

f 

AUTOMOBILE CRISIS 

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I rise 

today to talk about where we are in 

this auto bailout. In essence, it is show 

time here. A bill came over from the 

House last night. It is the end of the 

year. There is an impending crisis we 

are dealing with here in the country. 

So today we will be debating that and 

hopefully in the next few days take a 

vote. 

I spent a lot of time in the committee talking with certain and various parties involved. I spent a lot of 

time outside the committee doing the 

same thing. There is no doubt we are 

going through an economic time that 

is very difficult for the auto industry. 

It is also difficult for businesses and 

families all across this country as they 

try to make their budgets work out. 

As we have looked at this issue, I 

know there has been a lot of negotiation that has taken place between the 

White House and House Democrats. I 

really think the product that has been 

developed is a very poor product. 

I don’t blame that on my Democratic 

colleagues who negotiated because the 

White House is actually at a point 

where they are looking for the next 

flight out of town on January 20. Basically, they want to kick the can down 

the road and let some other administration and some other Congress deal 

with this issue. All of us are going to 

be here next year. It is our responsibility to deal with this issue in a professional and a competent manner and 

actually solve the problem. 

I say to my colleagues on both the 

left and right, on the Democratic and 

Republican sides, we have a historic 

opportunity to actually solve this 

problem. The solution is very simple. 

I have looked at this legislation that 

has come over. It is similar to so many 

things we do around here. It is akin to 

a three-humped camel. You couldn’t 

make it more ineffective and more 

complicated. We have put in place a 

czar. It seems like with everything we 

do around here, we try to find a person 

who can save us from the crisis that is 

happening. We did the same with the financial rescue package not long ago. I 

have looked at the actual responsibilities of this czar. I said yesterday I had 

a banking staff person who actually 

could fulfill those responsibilities. She 

read that in the paper this morning 

and came in and said she is overqualified, that in essence this is not something she would want to take on. I 

think we can use some help, certainly, 

from the outside, and there may be a 

role for somebody such as this. But 

what we are looking at is a fairly simple transaction. It is a lot of money, a 

fairly simple transaction. 

Here is what we have. We have three 

companies. Two of the companies are 

on the verge of bankruptcy. As a matter of fact, I would say two of the companies are in bankruptcy. I know 

Chrysler, today, is meeting with their 

supplier group. I know if they don’t 

win concessions today, they are in 

great trouble. General Motors has told 

us if they don’t receive funding by the 

end of this year, they will have to file 

bankruptcy. I believe that. 

We have a lot of Republicans who 

would like to see that happen, would 

like to see chapter 11 occur and to see 

them go through the laws that exist for 

reorganization in a way that is clean 

and allow them to move ahead in a financially stable way. As a matter of 

fact, many Republicans would actually 

agree to something called debtor-inpossession financing after that occurred so these companies could 

evolve. There are people on the other 

side of the aisle who have decided that 

is a cost that is too great to bear. 

I started out along the path that I believed the best way for us to solve the 

problem was to actually cause these 

companies to go through reorganization and any role we might play as the 

Federal Government would be in the 

way of debtor-in-possession financing. 

After listening to the testimony and 

after talking to people all across the 

country who are involved, I do believe 

the supply chain is in great stress. 

They are undercapitalized. The three 

companies have already been utilizing 

the supplier chain for financing by paying late and carrying payments for 

lengths of time. I do think the supply 

chain is fragile. 

What I have tried to do is figure out 

a way to create a piece of legislation 

that is elegant, simple, actually solves 

the problem, and causes these companies to be in great shape and for us to 

be able to move ahead and know that 

has been done. 

There are a lot of times I have heard 

people say: We are from the Government, and we are here to help you. 

When people hear that, they usually 

run for the hills. This is a case where if 

we will take a moment, we can actually do something that is great for 

these companies. We have a big stick. 

These companies cannot get financing 

anyplace except from the Federal Government. So we have an opportunity to 

sort of thread the needle in a simple 

way and cause these companies to be 

successful. 

Let me say, other than the economic 

issues, these companies have three 

major issues. Each one of them is different. We know that basically we are 

talking about General Motors here. We 

wouldn’t be having this discussion if it 

weren’t for General Motors. Chrysler 

would not be here if it weren’t for that. 

They are in serious trouble but 

wouldn’t have the clout to be able to 

talk to us in this way. Ford has money 

today because of refinancing they did 

back in 2006. They are not even part of 

the discussion today. They might be 

down the road, but today they are financially viable, although burning 

cash at a rate that is almost equal to 

that of General Motors. We are talking—to make this clear to people—