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Washington, DC - Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI15) made the following comments this morning about President Bush’s decision to provide $13.4 billion dollars in short-term loans from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), with an additional $4 billion available in February, contingent on the drawing down the second tranche of TARP funds.
“While I applaud President Bush’s decision to provide short term loans to the domestic automakers, I have strong concerns about some of the conditions that were placed on these loans. We all want to see the Big 3 restructure and be competitive in the future, but it is irresponsible during a time of economic crisis for the White House to insist that workers take further wage cuts on top of the historic concessions they have already made. No one is asking corporate executives to reduce their salaries to levels similar to that of their Japanese counterparts, and no one required the employees of Citibank or AIG to take a pay cut. I strongly urge President-elect Obama to revisit this issue as his first priority upon being sworn in, and to ensure that assistance to the automakers is provided in a way that is fair to working Americans.”
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