The first memorandum will order the Transportation Department to work out rules for automakers to improve fuel economy. It will call for the department to notify automakers by March 2009 to increase their fuel efficiency for 2011 model year cars and trucks.

The second memorandum will order the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider California’s request for a waiver from the Clean Air Act — a move that would allow California, the nation’s most populous state, to set tougher tailpipe emission standards than apply nationally.

AND MORE

Obama is also expected to order new guidelines on fuel economy. The law requires that by 2020, new cars and trucks meet a standard of 35 miles per gallon, a 40 percent increase over the status quo. The Bush administration did not set regulations in support of that law.

I am beginning to believe that Obama really does think he is the Messiah.  There really is no other rational explanation for these actions.  Now that the U.S. government is officially running the auto industry, what next?  Hmm… perhaps the airlines will be next since they burn fuel and Obama is the savior of the environment.  What a joke.

Detroit automakers would face strict oversight from a federal official and have to drop lawsuits against California’s limits on greenhouse gases from cars and trucks under a draft of the rescue obtained by the Free Press.

The final amount of the loans available under the plan was one of the issues still unresolved, with some lawmakers wanting more than the $15 billion that appeared available. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have said they need $8 billion before the end of the year to avoid collapse, and GM has said it could need $6 billion early next year.

Under the bill, automakers would have to submit a restructuring plan by March 31 to what’s being called a “financial viability advisor,” who would have the power to set negotiations among the company, unions and creditors. If the advisor deems the company isn’t making progress, the loans could be called back.

Catch the rest of the article here.  What a crock!  Now the government wants to run the auto industry!?  Give me a break.  The U.S. government cannot do anything right.  Now we are going to have the U.S. government with an 80% stake in U.S. banks and 100% stake in domestic auto production.  Reeks of COMMUNISM!  Socialism is too weak of a concept for how this is currently playing out.

Republican leaders who had pushed their reluctant members for the bill blamed Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., saying that her speech during the floor debate drove away about a dozen Republicans they thought they could get to support the measure.

“I do believe we could have gotten there today if it had not been for this partisan speech the speaker gave on the floor of the House,” said Boehner.

Speaking to reporters, Pelosi said that both Democratic and Republican leaders had pledged to get more than half their members to support the package and that only the Democrats had lived up to that promise. She said the lines of communication with administration and Republican House leadership to try to pass the measure.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080929/BUSINESS07/80929027

Livonia [Michigan] Republican Thad McCotter, call[ed] the bailout “a socialist solution — one that, by threatening hardworking Americans’ prosperity, unconscionably ransoms hardworking Americans’ money and reduces their liberty.”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,430021,00.html

“This is not a partisan crisis, this is an economic crisis,” said Deputy Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor, who said that 94 Democrats also refused to go along with the bill. He described the vote as the result of “Speaker Pelosi’s failure to listen and failure to lead.”

House Republican Conference Chairman, Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, said “he was disappointed that the process that yielded a bipartisan approach took a very marked, partisan tone at the end of the debate.”