Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) on the bridge loan, the actions of Senate GOP and the TARP tranche part two..

UPDATE: Video now up from CSPAN here

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT),  Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee Chairman,  just gave an excellent press conference covering the negotiations over the bridge loan and the moves made by all the key stakeholders as well as the ‘political maneuvering by a group GOP Senators in a time of financial crisis’.

During Q/A he articulated the Democratic leadership’s position on drawdown of Tarp tranche Deux and needing to have foreclosure mitigation and consumer lending before any such move is made…

Dodd revealed that after he and all the parties had gone as far as having agreed to put the language in calling for ‘bankruptcy on March 31st if no concessions made by all stakeholders to be viable’, the Shelby contingent was still adding further conditions on labor including NEGOTIATING WORK RULES..

YES! Like they were OSHA, Shelby and his Southern GOP Senate crew was trying to lower American work standards and abrogate the entire purpose of the union.  Dodd calls them the core group that was ‘determined to get to a bankruptcy outcome’..it was a union bust based on Dodd’s description and he outlines the many concessions labor made last night..

It’s wonderful to see Dodd on his game and playing it straight, this is the course on which he belongs. Of course he is echoing many things I said in my ‘Big 3 bill fails’ post and update this morning, so how could I fail to concur? HA! It is nice to be on the side of my party leadership for a change…it is a sad state of affairs that this has to be an issue, hundreds of billions to AIG no concessions on salary or yachting or hunting in Europe there, but no advance on 14 billion already allocated for our manufacturers…..

Up momentarily on CSPAN here

December 12, 2008. Tags: AIG, Alan Mulally, Big 3, Big 3 Bailout, Chris Dodd, Chrysler, Congressional Leadership, Detroit, Economy, Fed, Finance, Foreclosures, GM, Hank Paulson, Housing, Obama Administration, Politics, recession, Rick Wagoner, Ron Gettelfinger, TARP, UAW, Wall St. Big 3, Cabinet, Economy, Finance, Foreclosures, Housing, Labor Department, Obama Administration, Politics, Popular Culture, TARP, Unemployment Statistics, Wall St. 1 comment.