Minnesota delegation mixed on auto bailout

The $14 billion bailout of the auto industry passed the U.S. House on Wednesday by 237 to 170, but the majority of Minnesota’s Congressional delegates voted against it. The bill will give loans to General Motors and Chrysler to aid them in continuing operations and staving off probable layoffs.

Democratic Reps. Betty McCollum and James Oberstar joined with Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad in supporting the bill, while Democratic Reps. Tim Walz and Collin Peterson joined Republican Reps. John Kline and Michele Bachmann in opposing the measure. Rep. Keith Ellison did not vote.

Walz (pictured) explained his vote in a statement Wednesday. “Nothing in this bill will prevent the auto manufacturers and their suppliers from continuing to move jobs overseas,” he said. “And we have no guarantee that spending $15 billion in taxpayers’ money will actually solve the Big Three’s problems. We must preserve and create jobs in America but this isn’t the way to do it.”

Bluestem Prairie, a blog that follows news about Walz, notes that the Star Tribune reprinted a New York Times article that incorrectly states that Walz and Peterson voted for the bill. In another area of the paper, they reprint an Associated Press article that got the votes correct.