Obama Backs Bailout for Autos

(MoneyWatch)  President-elect Barack Obama has joined the chorus calling on the Bush Administration to do more to help the auto industry sooner rather than later.

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan said on Nov. 11 he was, "pleased that President-elect Obama pressed the need for immediate action for the auto industry," following a meeting between Obama and President Bush to discuss the upcoming transition.

Levin also noted the recent effort by Sen. Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who urged Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to devote a share of the financial-industries bailout to helping the auto industry.

The $700 billion financial-industries bailout is formally known as the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Levin said in late September he first opposed the bailout but ultimately supported a revised version.

Michigan's other senator, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, voted against it, which might be feeling a little awkward now. To be fair, the dire state of the U.S. auto industry has become more clear since then. At the same time, the financial-industries bailout package has morphed into the key to helping out the Detroit 3.

Stabenow said at the time she opposed the financial-industries bailout because it "didn't do enough for families." Unlike Levin, her web site is mum on today's efforts to convert the bailout to helping the auto industry.