Auto loans boost CR’s chances

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) plan to attach $25 billion in government loans for the U.S. auto industry onto a resolution keeping the government funded could guarantee the funding bill’s passage.

Until Thursday, top Democrats worried they could not win approval of the funding bill if it included language continuing a ban on offshore drilling, a provision that has been approved for years but that the GOP is trying to beat back.

{mosads}But the $25 billion in loans for Detroit has changed the equation, top Republican aides admit.

Several GOPers whose districts depend heavily on the auto industry said they would support any funding bill that included the loans, no matter how bad they believed the underlying bill to be.

“This is so important to me that I don’t care how it’s done, it just needs to be done,” said Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.), whose district includes the headquarters of Chrysler.

“I can’t imagine not supporting it, no matter what vehicle it’s on,” said Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), whose district backs up to both the Detroit and Flint suburbs.

Asked if she would vote for a loaded-up continuing resolution (CR) without the auto loan package, Miller said: “It would depend on what was in it, but probably not.”

Pelosi has not spelled out in detail how she would approach a CR, but said Thursday she would look to attach not just the $25 billion in auto industry loans but also a number of Democratic-driven economic stimulus provisions, including an extension of unemployment insurance and billions in infrastructure spending.

Any number of those provisions would give Republicans just as much heartburn as an extension of a drilling moratorium.

“Right now the idea of a partisan CR paired with the auto loans makes me nervous,” said Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.). “If they do a bipartisan CR, then, yes, I’ll vote for it. If it ends up being a partisan issue, we’ll really have to take a closer look.”

Knollenberg predicted that, no matter the underlying vehicle, the Michigan delegation would stay united in support of the auto loan provision.

While Michigan, whose House delegation comprises nine Republicans, is the state most associated with the industry, one Republican auto-state aide suggested the “universe” of GOP votes that may be up for grabs is much greater.

“Auto language puts Republicans from the auto states like Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Texas, Tennessee and Kentucky in play,” the aide said. “[Democrats] won’t get them all, but that’s the universe.”

“In my neck of the woods that’s something we need to look at very closely,” said Ohio Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce.

Still, some GOPers from such states said they might vote against a CR with the auto loans if they really disagreed with the underlying bill.

Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) said the loan provision, decried on Thursday by the conservative Club for Growth as a “bailout,” would not be enough to win his vote if the funding bill is “terrible.”

But it could still be seen as just too important for even top Republicans like Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Policy Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) to vote against.

“Every vote you take is going to upset someone,” said McCotter, who supports the auto loans. “All you can do is work for your constituents and whatever happens, happens.”