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Harry Reid: An American Prorogation - White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 11/20/08
— Thursday, November 20, 2008 —
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Q But my question is, if Congress does not act this week, is the administration just going to watch GM sink?

MS. PERINO: If the Congress doesn't act this week and one of the companies is in imminent danger of insolvency, we would suspect that they would want to come back and finish the work that they didn't get done this week.

Q You would anticipate that Congress would come back?

MS. PERINO: We would -- I can't imagine a scenario where they wouldn't come back, unless the answer is that they just don't care. And if that's the case, then the American people ought to know that and hear it from them.

Q What are the chances that something is going to get done this week?

MS. PERINO: Well, we always remain hopeful. We believe the path that we've set forward could get bipartisan support if it was allowed to come for a vote. And so we would ask them to just think about taking a step back from partisan politics and throwing up obstacles for the sake of throwing up obstacles, and consider our proposal, and the one that Senators Bond and Voinovich have put forward, because we do think that they would be able to get help for the automakers in a way that would help them get through this rough patch, but also help them restructure, make the hard decisions necessary to restructure.

I think the key point is that the American taxpayer should only be asked to help these companies if they're willing to make the hard decisions necessary to be viable in the long run.

Q But why do you remain hopeful? I mean, are you hearing anything in the --

MS. PERINO: Well, they haven't left town yet. The gavel hasn't come down. And presumably, given the rhetoric that they've used over the past week, the Democrats believe that the automakers need help. Well, if that's the case, then they should allow us to move forward to have a vote on something that we think could get passed.

The truth is Senator Reid's idea could not get enough votes in the Senate to get through the process. So the alternative would be to, well, could we think of another way, a bipartisan way where we could get the automakers help? Instead, he just wants to pull the plug and leave town. And we don't think that that is a good way to help the auto industry, and we certainly don't think it's a good signal for the bipartisanship that everyone pledged over the past year.


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