Auto Industry Pushing Hard for Federal Assistance

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Auto Industry Pushing Hard for Federal Assistance
By Joseph J. Schatz, CQ Staff


The struggling domestic auto industry is ramping up its bid for additional federal assistance in the aftermath of an election that saw the industry’s Democratic allies make big gains.

Top executives from Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and the United Auto Workers are expected to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., this afternoon to talk about the difficulty automakers, suppliers and dealers are facing in accessing credit, and the extent to which sales are down in the troubled economy.

Lawmakers jump-started a $25 billion direct loan program for automakers as part of the continuing resolution (PL 110-329) signed into law by President Bush earlier this fall. It remains unclear, however, when those funds will begin to flow, a situation that Michigan lawmakers have been pushing the administration to address.

Some automakers also would like to see lawmakers double the size of the loan program to $50 billion — a move, noted one auto industry source, for which President-elect Barack Obama has expressed support.

Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Thursday that his group supports “quick passage of a stimulus bill in a lame duck session” to address problems in the auto, housing and infrastructure sectors.

Pelosi said Wednesday that she wants to move a stimulus spending package of at least $61 billion in the lame duck session expected to begin Nov. 17, but that much depends on whether congressional Republicans and the White House will allow it to be enacted.

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