Auto Bailout Fails in Senate

The auto bailout vote was 52-35 in favor, but that's not enough to invoke cloture and send the bill on for a final vote. It's dead...at least for the moment.

President Bush was in favor of this measure, and there's still a possibility that he could pull funds from the Wall Street bailout money and use it for the auto industry. I hope not.

UPDATE: Apparently the negotiations between Republicans and the United Auto Workers broke down when the UAW wouldn't budge on key issues. Here's what Mitch McConnell had to say:

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. And 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.