Bush Wants Automakers to Get Money Without Strings

From the Wall Street Journal:

Complaining about what it termed partisan "gridlock" in Congress, the White House late Friday called on lawmakers to let U.S. auto makers get quick access to a $25 billion federal loan program, by dropping a requirement that the money be spent on converting to fuel-efficient vehicles.

I think not one red cent should go to the automakers unless it has strings attached which require them to begin making fuel efficient cars. I am of a divided mind about how catastrophic it might be for the economy to allow the Big Three to fail if it comes to that; it depends on which economist I read. But if we are going to go down the road to a bailout the end result has to be a completely retooled industry. There can't be any debate about that, can there?