[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 108 (Wednesday, July 21, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H5897-H5898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       SAVING THE ICONIC AMERICAN MANUFACTURERS, THE AUTO DEALERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Miller) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. MILLER of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, about a year ago, both General 
Motors and Chrysler went through a government orchestrated bankruptcy 
in an effort to save these iconic American manufacturers. I firmly 
believe that the survival of these companies was then and is today 
vital to our national economy as well as to our national security.
  While I am very thankful that these companies are coming back strong, 
I do have serious questions over steps that were taken, most 
importantly, the shuttering of thousands of car dealerships across the 
Nation and the elimination of countless jobs that were produced in 
those auto dealerships. I didn't understand, when these bankruptcies 
were moving forward, how the elimination of thousands of dealerships, 
who are really the customers of the auto companies, would help to 
provide any savings to the bottom line for General Motors or Chrysler. 
I also did not understand how the arbitrary elimination of thousands of 
profitable small businesses and the elimination of tens of thousands of 
good-paying American jobs were in the best interest of our Nation or in 
line with the stated desire of this administration to protect and to 
create jobs.
  Based on a recent report that was just released this past Sunday, it 
seems now that the inspector general of the TARP program, the Troubled 
Asset Relief Program, is also asking these same

[[Page H5898]]

questions, Mr. Speaker. That report found that the Department of 
Treasury did not show why the elimination of dealers was either 
necessary for the sake of a company's economic survival or prudent for 
the Nation's economic recovery.
  The report went on to say that Treasury made a series of decisions 
that--and they say--may have substantially contributed to the 
accelerated shuttering of thousands of small businesses, and that those 
decisions resulted in adding tens of thousands of workers to already 
lengthy unemployment rolls, all based on a theory and without 
sufficient consideration of the decision's broader economic impact.
  These findings seem to back up what many of us were saying at that 
time, Mr. Speaker. The elimination of customers for the auto companies 
is counterintuitive to the financial well-being of these companies, and 
the government's aiding and abetting the elimination of tens of 
thousands of jobs--of good jobs--is certainly abhorrent at any time but 
particularly at a time of economic difficulty when such jobs are 
already in very, very short supply.
  Fortunately, Congress took action that required an arbitration 
process for dealers, which has led now to the reinstatement of over 700 
auto dealerships, but this is very little consolation to the tens of 
thousands of workers who have lost their jobs or to the communities 
that have lost very good taxpayers and excellent corporate citizens.
  These types of outcomes also further erode the confidence of the 
American people in the idea that Federal intervention in our economy 
will bring about positive results. Because of the actions taken last 
year by this administration, thousands and thousands of our fellow 
Americans are today searching for jobs. American citizens are being 
victimized by an inept Federal Government plan that went wrong.
  This administration needs to understand that the American people do 
not want further Federal intervention into our economy. They simply 
want the government to get out of the way and to allow the 
entrepreneurial spirit of this Nation to, once again, take flight and 
to lead us back to prosperity.
  As President Ronald Reagan said so well 30 years ago, ``Big 
government is not the solution to our problems, it is the problem.''
  It is long past time for this administration and this Congress to 
focus like a laser on how we create jobs instead of devising plans that 
actually destroy jobs, Mr. Speaker. Too many American auto dealers and 
the workers who lost their jobs have paid a very dear price as a result 
of this administration's actions. Let us be determined now that we in 
Congress will conduct our proper oversight responsibilities to get to 
the bottom of how this happened and to make sure that it never happens 
again. American auto dealers, Mr. Speaker, deserve no less from this 
Congress.

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