Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said he would be working with Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) to bring to a vote legislation that would extend the cash-for-clunkers program before the August recess.
The $2 billion extension of the program, which provides $4,000 to $6,000 to car buyers who trade in older vehicles, passed easily through the House on Friday.
Speaking to reporters after a policy luncheon with his fellow GOP senators, McConnell suggested the issue will be "completed before the end of the week." When asked to clarify if he meant the Senate would vote to extend the program, he declined to say.
McConnell said before the bill comes up for a vote, "There are a series of amendments that I think our members think would improve the proposal. And I'd rather not speak for them on it."
Senate Democratic colleagues skipped their usual caucus luncheon to dine at the White House. President Obama planned to urge his guests to extend the trade-in program, his spokesman, Robert Gibbs, told reporters on Tuesday morning.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) confidently predicted Tuesday that the Senate would pass extended funding for the "cash for clunkers" program before it adjourns for the August recess.
"We will pass cash for clunkers," Reid said in a press availability after Senate Democrats lunched with President Obama at the White House.
Obama had planned to lean on the Democrats to pass the $2 billion extension for the auto rebate program before leaving. Some Republican senators and even a few Democrats signaled some reluctance to quickly pass the legislation.
Reid said the Senate would vote for the extension "before we leave here."
When asked if he thought the Senate had the votes to extend the program, Reid simply said, "Yes."
While the Obama administration and members of Congress have asserted the economy may recovering, one senator warned Tuesday that further declines may be on the way.
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said that the is no consensus that the economy has begun to recover, and spoke of a potential "double bottom" in which the recession would again deepen before the economy recovers.
"Although some say the economy has bottomed out...there are a number of other economists who say we are going to have a 'double bottom,' and that we're just at a temporary leveling off -- that we will see further declines," Crapo told Idaho reporters in a news conference today.
"So there's still not a consensus that we actually have seen the economy begin the last upward healing process," Crapo added.
Crapo expressed skepticism about those claims, asserting that any recovery in the economy at this point certainly wouldn't be due to Obama's economic policies.
"Whatever impact is causing the economy to stabilize -- if it is stabilizing -- is almost certainly not as a result of the stimulus package," Crapo said.
Over their Tuesday lunch, Senate Republican leaders are discussing how to respond to the Obama administration's push for an $2 billion for the overwhelmed cash-for-clunkers program, and the key may be where the money comes from.
Senate Democrats have already started running the $2 billion appropriation through a hotline -- a process that involves surveying potential opposition to a piece of legislation. If no senator objects, a measure can be quickly approved by a unanimous motion.
But Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) said Republicans will almost certainly push to modify the legislation somehow, such as by making sure the money comes from already-approved stimulus money instead of simply adding to the national debt as called for by the legislation passed Friday by the House.
"I would suspect that if that bill is moved, there will be an effort to offer an amendment to say that if we pass it, that the House or the Senate cannot go back in and fill up the stimulus again with $2 billion in debt money," Alexander said. "We'll see what our options are."
Alexander acknowledged the program appears to be working.
"It's stirring things up. It's helping dealers, it's helping car companies. It's having an impact," he said. "Yeah, it's helping some."
It was President George W. Bush who presided over the largest socialized expansion of government-supported healthcare, Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) asserted Tuesday.
Ross, a leading member of the centrist Blue Dog Democrat coalition on health issues, said that it was Bush, not President Obama, who pioneered the expansion of government's role in healthcare.
"It was George W. Bush that passed the largest socialized expansion of our government in my lifetime," Ross argued in an interview with a Fox affiliate in Arkansas. "It was called Medicare Part D prescription drug program. The 10 year period for it was well over a trillion dollars."
He said that program exceeds the cost of the healthcare reform bill now before the House.
"The price tag is now under a trillion. That is over 10 years," Ross said. "That is less money than what George W. Bush passed."
Ross's words are a thinly-veiled shot at Republicans who argue that Obama's healthcare plans would result in a massive expansion of government, and create a "government-run" healthcare system.
But Ross, a key swing Democrat whose vote could swing other centrists on the healthcare bill, still said he hasn't made up his mind on whether or not he'll support the final reform bill.
"I don't know how I will vote on the final bill," Ross explained. "There are still 10 more legislative votes before we have a final vote."
He added: "I don't know what the final bill will look like. If it covers illegal immigrants, I'll be against it. If it uses federal funds to pay for abortion, I'll be against it. If it does not allow you to keep what you've got today and always choose your own doctor, I'll be against it."
Senate Democrats can't count on two of their absent elders to pass through legislative priorities with a filibuster-proof majority, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) asserted Monday night.
Conrad, appearing on the "Charlie Rose Show" on PBS, said that senators should not count on Sens. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) or Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) to force through controversial legislation.
"The Democrats have 60 votes in the United States Senate. That's true," Conrad said. "Senator Kennedy and Senator Byrd have been absent due to illness for an expended period of time."
Conrad said that while senators respect Kennedy and Byrd, and hope for their quick recovery, they cannot be expected to show up for the rounds of votes in the Senate which sometimes see dozens of votes at a time.
"So, I don't think you can count on both of them being there for that entire proceeding," Conrad said. "So that takes you to 58 votes."
Kennedy has been suffering for brain cancer for which he's being treated, while Byrd has suffered a variety of maladies, including a recent extended hospitalization for a staph infection.
Conrad said that as a result of Byrd and Kennedy's absence, senators should be more committed to bipartisan legislation on healthcare, warning that using budget reconciliation to pass a reform bill would result in "Swiss cheese for legislation."
The "cash for clunkers" program is an example of the Obama administration's mismanagement of the economy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asserted Monday.
McConnell, an original opponent of the auto rebate program, took to the Senate floor this afternoon to criticize the plan ahead of a vote expected this week in his chamber to offer a $2 billion extension to the initiative.
"Last week we saw the administration's tendency to miss the mark on economic estimates again with the so-called 'cash for clunkers' program," McConnell said in prepared remarks. "We were told this program would last for several months. As it turned out, it ran out of money in a week, prompting the House to rush a $2 billion dollar extension before anybody even had time to figure out what happened with the first billion."
While the extended funding for the program passed the House fairly easily, some senators in both parties have expressed a reluctance to quickly sign off on a bill expected to hit the floor this week.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned Sunday that the program would have to be suspended next week if the Senate fails to approve more funding this week.
"Americans are telling us that health care is too important to rush," McConnell said. "They're saying it's too important to base our decisions on this issue solely on the estimates that we're getting from the same people who brought us the stimulus and cash for clunkers."
While the Senate will make a "good faith effort" to craft bipartisan healthcare legislation, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Monday, bipartisan negotiations will be abandoned by September 15th if no agreement comes together.
Durbin said that he stood by the deadline Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus's (D-Mont.) stated deadline for his committee to craft a bipartisan bill by mid-September.
"We need to make a good faith effort to make this a bipartisan bill," Durbin said during an appearance on MSNBC. "We're going to have a chance to do that in September."
But Durbin cautioned that the September 15th deadline "is my date as well."
Other senior Democrats sent out warning shots on Monday that Senate leaders were prepared to use budget reconciliation to bypass filibuster rules and pass reform legislation with a simple majority of lawmakers.
Durbin hinted that, while he prefers a bipartisan deal, he's prepared to use reconciliation as well.
"If there is not a bipartisan bill, we have an option to do that," he said.
Lawmakers should examine extending a "cash for clunkers"-like program to other products, the principal House sponsor of the bill to authorize the program for auto trade-ins said Monday.
"I think all of that is worth thinking about," Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) told CNBC when asked if a "clunker" program to other large consumer products.
Sutton, a Democrat from Cleveland in her second term, defended the program as one of the most stimulative pieces of spending enacted by Congress this year.
"We can get a lot of bang for the investment," Sutton said. "And hopefully, we'll be smart with our policies out there that can successfully stimulate the economy while helping consumers and accomplish other things."
Sutton called the program for autos, which was overwhelmingly approved for a $2 billion extension by the House last week, "an innovative idea to accomplish multiple goals."
The extension faces a vote in the Senate this week, where procedural rules may make things a bit more difficult for the fast-tracked legislation.
The $2 billion extension to the "cash for clunkers" program should be taken out of the money set for the stimulus program, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) urged Monday.
Corker, who's made a mark in the Senate for his work on the automotive bailouts, said that the Senate should take the money to extend the program out of the $787 billion stimulus passed earlier this year.
"If this is something we can take from the $787 billion stimulus plan -- some of which won't be spent for three or for years -- and use it today in a way that it's paid for, I would support it," he said during an interview on CNBC.
The House extension of cash for clunkers last week takes the $2 billion out of the $25 billion in loans to the auto industry through the Department of Energy approved by Congress last year.
The Senate is expected to act on the appropriation this week. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned this weekend the program would have to be suspended next week if the Senate failed to act before adjourning for the August recess.
But the bill may not have smooth sailing ahead.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he'd oppose the extension, and Corker said he'd vote against it as well "if it's just adding another $2 billion to our debt."
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