Troubles in the Auto Industry Are Not Just A Michigan Problem; Today We See They Are An American Problem

Floor Speech

TROUBLES IN THE AUTO INDUSTRY ARE NOT JUST A MICHIGAN PROBLEM; TODAY WE SEE THEY ARE AN AMERICAN PROBLEM -- (House of Representatives - May 14, 2009)

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. Madam Speaker, I represent a district in southeast Michigan. We are a part of the very heart and soul of our domestic auto industry, an industry that has served our country very well. It's built the weapons that America needed in times of war when our freedom itself was at risk. It's provided millions of Americans an opportunity for a good job with good benefits and a secure retirement.

We all understand that the American auto industry has fallen on very, very hard times. Those of us in southeast Michigan understand it well. It's not a new development. We are painfully aware of it. We've dealt with plant closings and thousands of jobs lost. We've dealt with families torn apart, home foreclosures, and communities devastated. And we've endured massive new unfunded Federal mandates placed upon our industry, which have made it very difficult to compete. We've watched as Federal and State incentives have been offered to foreign competitors to come into our home market on equal terms, even though similar access to foreign markets has not been offered to our domestic companies. We've seen this government negligent in not formulating a manufacturing policy that protects vital American interests and good-paying American jobs. And for years we never asked for help.

But when Wall Street melted down last year, our problems were made even worse because 80 percent of the people who are going to buy an automobile require credit and not enough credit was available, and, of course, auto sales have just fallen through the floor. And when the auto companies came to Capitol Hill to ask for similar assistance that's been given to the Wall Street banks, those whose actions made their problems even worse, the auto industry was treated with disdain and their pleas for help were rejected by this Congress, which seemed indifferent to the problem and to the desire to protect American jobs.

This was a Michigan problem we were told, not an American problem. We tried to remind our colleagues of everything that this industry has meant to our great Nation, and again we received indifference and we were told, Just let them go into bankruptcy.

We were told that these companies needed to shed their legacy costs. Well, guess what. Legacy costs have names. They are people. And we're told that this has to be done because these foreign competitors who were given free access to our market do not have such legacy costs. Or imports which are built by low-wage workers overseas do not have these legacy costs. We are told we need to drive American wages down to match Third World competitors in order to compete.

Well, today we see that this is not just a Michigan problem anymore; today it is an American problem. Today Chrysler is in bankruptcy court, exactly what many in this Congress advocated for. And today Chrysler filed a list of 789 dealerships whose franchise agreements it is asking the bankruptcy court to sever. That means the closure of 789 dealerships in communities all across our great Nation.

These businesses represent not just a place to buy a car, but they represent community leaders, the sponsors of the Little League teams or the chairman of the Rotary. In many cases the biggest job provider in the town. The average dealer in this Nation, Madam Speaker, employs over 50 people. So this move means the loss of over 40,000 more jobs. Now 789 communities across this Nation will feel the pain of a contracting domestic auto industry. The pain of a business shutting down, the pain of jobs lost, the pain of families who will be devastated.

And tomorrow that pain will only get worse as General Motors is also set to release a list of dealers it hopes to shed and a list that will be much, much larger than 789 dealers.

Madam Speaker, this list was submitted as a part of that bankruptcy filing, a bankruptcy that many Members were advocating for when they believed it was just a Michigan problem. And now we see Members lamenting the fact that dealerships in their districts are closing. And they fail to realize that if this bankruptcy had happened last December, when they voted against bridge loans for the auto industry, it would have included every Chrysler dealer, because a disorderly bankruptcy would have led to the liquidation of Chrysler. So some Members got what they advocated for, Chrysler in bankruptcy, which today has led to the loss of 40,000 jobs. And tomorrow it will get worse.

It is time to understand that preserving, protecting, and defending our auto industry doesn't just solve a Michigan problem, it solves an American problem, and it defends jobs in every community in our great Nation.

It is a shame, Madam Speaker, that we had to learn this lesson on the backs and the livelihoods of another 40,000 of our fellow Americans.

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