After months of haggling, the bill to cut $38.5 billion in the 2011 budget was passed. The House voted 260 – 167 with the house following 81 – 19 on the deal.

Programs that will see the largest reductions include the Environmental Protection Agency, which saw a $1.6 billion cut along with the high-speed rail projects, which had a $2.9 billion cut.  Funding for building and repairing federal buildings were cut by $1 billion.

Others affected include funding for community health programs, food aid for poor women and children, emergency first responders and the National Endowment for the Arts.  Measures that would have affected new health-care law and funding for Planned Parenthood of America were dropped.

Both sides agree $4 trillion needs to be cut from the deficit over the next 10 – 12 years. While there is still a lot of disagreement between the two parties as to how to lower the deficit, the 2012 budget plans will likely prove to be an even bigger battle.

After going back and forth with congress, the auto bailout has been denied. According to Business Week , a major factor in this bailout not passing was the United Auto Workers (UAW) refusal to budge with regards to lowering pay and benefits.  UAW and congress could not come to an agreement with regards to this touchy subject matter.
According to Business Week, “The bill called for $14 billion to be divided between GM and Chrysler, both of which are at the financial breaking point as the recession and consumer credit crunch have crippled their finances. The companies, anticipating failure in the Senate, have hired bankruptcy law firms. Ford (F) has said it doesn’t need federal assistance now but has asked for a $9 billion line of credit in case sales deteriorate below the current level.”  Let’s see how this affects the stock market today.

Leadpile Lead Exchange is keeping a close eye on this situation.  Not only does the auto bailout situation affect us directly with our auto finance leads, but it also affects other financial related lead types that we are generating.  A bailout not passing is going to affect lots of Americans potentially who are some how linked to this industry.  What is going to happen to their financial situation and their jobs?  So is bankruptcy the next answer to this denied auto industry bailout??? We will see……