The AP reports: " A $14 billion emergency bailout for U.S. automakers collapsed in the Senate Thursday night after the United Auto Workers refused to accede to Republican demands for swift wage cuts." In a statement Mitch McConnell first expressed hope that the Senate might ultimately come to a resolution, like it did on the bailout in September, and then described why the auto bailout failed:
"The Administration negotiated in good faith with the Democratic Majority a proposal that was simply unacceptable to the vast majority of our side because we thought it, frankly, wouldn't work. [...] "The sticking point that we are left with is the question of whether the UAW is willing to agree to a parity pay structure with other manufacturers in this country by a date certain. And I understand their reluctance to do that. "So far in the discussions that Sen. Corker and Sen. Dodd and others have had, they have not been willing to give a date specific by which parity could be achieved. "It is upon that issue that we've reached an impasse for the moment."