On Fox News Sunday Richard Shelby threatened to filibuster any bailout of the auto companies.
Wallace: Sen. Shelby you've been one of the leading critics of any bailout. From what you're hearing, $15 billion get them through till March, gonna' have an administrator to make sure they keep their promise. Will you support that?
Shelby: Well absolutely not. I think this is a bridge loan to nowhere. This is a down payment on many billions to come. This is not something that happened overnight. This is thirty years in the making. These companies basically have failed, are failing. They probably need according to some people about sixty percent of the management to go and about forty percent downsize of the workers. They've got to compete. They can't compete today and the question is will they be able to compete tomorrow. We would like to save them but they've got to save themselves and I don't believe they're willing to save themselves because they could be restructured, the right way and they don't want to do that.
Wallace: Are you and other Republicans prepared to filibuster this bill?
Shelby: Well I would ah, I think we need to debate it and that's what a filibuster is about and this week would be a good time to do it. I hope that we will be able to have an extended debate on it. We'll see what happens.
Wallace: Do you think you have the votes to sustain a filibuster?
Shelby: I don't know. It depends on what happens. In the mean time I know people want to get home for Christmas. They want to get out of here and come back. But what I fear Chris.
Wallace: Sounds like you're willing to hold Congress hostage here.
Shelby: The first, the first down payment, it's just the beginning. It's an installment plan of billions and billions and billions and we don't know the end game.
If Richard Shelby wants to filibuster the bill will the Democrats actually make him take to the floor and debate? If the Republicans want a filibuster I say break out the cots and let's have an actual filibuster.
