Representative Steve King 5th Congressional District of Iowa
November 19, 2008
King Opposes Detroit Bailout
Washington, D.C.—Congressman King today released the following statement regarding Congress’ proposed bailout package for Detroit’s “big three” domestic auto manufacturers:
“We need to stop spending billions upon billions in taxpayer money to bail out those who’ve made poor business decisions. As if the $700 billion bailout for the financial industry wasn’t bad enough, now Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid are going to completely disregard what few restrictions were placed upon the use of that money, bow to the demands of the auto unions, and send a big fat check to Detroit. We have several other automakers that have set up production lines here in the US. Automakers outside the Big Three make money at their US plants because they will not agree under threat of strike to gold plated benefits packages that would be destined to break their company.
In the end, this bailout will only lead us down the path of having to entertain an endless number of requests from major players in every other sector of the American economy for similar aid.”
The proposal to send $25 billion in aid to General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler is to be debated and voted upon this week in the Senate. If it passes it will be voted on in the House this week. The money for the auto bailout would be taken from the $700 billion bailout that Congress approved earlier in the fall to purchase “troubled” mortgage backed assets from banks and other financial institutions.
