Webb, Warner backed bailout

Sen. Jim Webb yesterday called the Senate's refusal to help the auto industry "a woeful misapplication of the priorities that should govern our stewardship as political leaders."

Webb and Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., joined 50 other senators Thursday night in trying to force Senate action on a $14 billion government loan to Detroit's Big Three automakers.

The Senate fell eight votes short of the 60 votes needed to cut off a Republican filibuster of the bill.

Virginia has 49,934 jobs directly or indirectly connected to the auto industry, according to the Center for Automotive Research.

Webb and Warner voted in favor of a $700 billion bailout package for the financial industry that President Bush signed into law in October.

Negotiations over the auto package, which Webb dubbed a "bridge loan" for the faltering industry while it restructures itself, centered largely on wages for members of the United Auto Workers union.

Republicans opposed to the bill said the workers should accept a pay cut to be on par with Japanese carmakers.

"The opposition to this bridge loan was based on the faulty argument that unionized auto workers are too highly compensated," said Webb.

"When you remove from the average UAW compensation the money needed to support retirees' health insurance and pension expenses, UAW workers take home about the same wages as non-union workers at foreign car plants in the United States."

Webb also argued that if the pay gap between union and non-union workers is important, then industry executives should face a pay cut.

"Parity should be applied evenhandedly," continued Webb. "The average American CEO makes 400 times what the average worker makes, while the average Japanese CEO makes only 10 times what a Japanese worker makes."

Warner was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Contact Neil H. Simon at (202) 662-7669 or .