• The House passed similar legislation, H.R. 7321, on December 10, 2008 by a vote of 237 to 170 with one Member voting present.

• On October 3, 2008, the President signed into law the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA), which created a $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to allow the Department of Treasury to purchase troubled assets.

• Shortly after the EESA was signed into law, Secretary Paulson announced that TARP funds would not be used to buy troubled assets but would instead be used for capital infusions. Around that time, corporations outside of the financial services industry, including the Detroit 3, requested TARP funding from Treasury but such requests have been denied on the basis that TARP is limited to the financial services sector.

• This legislation would provide the Detroit 3 with an upfront $14 billion in a taxpayer financed loan to enable these companies to return to viability and to retool their product lines to begin to produce more fuel efficient vehicles.

• The legislation also requires that the President appoint a “designee” to oversee the restructuring and, as a condition for receiving the loan, that the Detroit 3 each submit a plan on how they intend to significantly restructure their operations and reduce many of their structural costs.

• If the designee does not approve a long-term restructuring plan by March 31, 2009 (or 30 days thereafter), then the designee shall require repayment of the loan within 30 days. In addition, the designee may require accelerated repayment of loans if the designee determines that the participating automaker has not made adequate progress toward a long-term restructuring plan or if the automaker does not make adequate progress in implementing an approved restructuring plan.