Senator McCaskill lashes out at critics of attempts to rescue the domestic automakers, accusing them of hypocrisy.

McCaskill says those who have been critical of the $14 billion bill to rescue General Motors and Chrysler from financial collapse have given it much more scrutiny than they did to the $700 billion rescue package for the nation’s financial sector. Ford also would have access to a federal line of credit under provisions of the bill. The House has approved a measure hammered out with the White House, but its fate is uncertain in the Senate. Several senators have dismissed the effort as throwing good money after bad, claiming the Big Three have a failing business model. Some have suggested they would do better if allowed to reorganize under bankruptcy proceedings.

McCaskill points out the chief executives of the domestic auto makers have agreed to concessions demanded of them during hearings before both House and Senate committees in Washington. Among the concessions:  agreeing to work for a dollar a year, getting rid of corporate jets and implementing other cost-saving moves. McCaskill tells fellow senators they didn’t press such points against chief executives of the financial corporations which got help from Congress.

She accuses critics of using a double standard against the domestic auto manufacturers.    McCaskill supports a rescue of the car makers, but opposes the current bill because it contains a provision that would provide raises for federal judges. 

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