there was no public document, no public discussion, no notification to the united auto workers, at least at the local level, that plants would be closed. that was the response from mr. bloom. i yield to the gentleman for his thoughts. mr. mccotter: i appreciate that recap. exactly what happened. and now, subsequent to these events which have had such a devastating effect on my community, michigan, the entire midwest, and america's manufacturing base, we hear the administration and the task force saying they do not determine which plants would be closed. they did not determine which dealerships would be closed. that is a factually true statement. but by omission, they do not add that they determined how many plants would be closed and how many jobs would be lost and how many dealerships would be closed. because when they rejected those viability reports, they said they did not go deeply enough, quikely enough to provide viability to chrysler or a path forward for general motors. put in terms of the human cost that means more people had to lose their jobs, more plants had to close, more de

of automobile manufacturers wrote asking all senators to support this program as well as the united auto workersislative director who call this provision quote, the single most important step congress can take right now to assist in the autumn industry. have in congress done enough for the auto industry? when is $85 billion not enough? where the auto industry. we leslie this provision is a lemon according to a june 13th 2000 article from the l.a. times that stated critics say the improvement required in the trade as little as 1 mile per gallon for certain light trucks. in other words, trade in your zero light truck and buy another one is 1 mile per gallon more fuel-efficient bois, will swap so you can swap one gas guzzlers for another paris over $1 billion this provision doesn't achieve in the environmental goals is author set forth in either. or my colleagues, senators feinstein and collins argued in an opinion piece published in "the wall street journal" on june 11th, 2009 also ruled that this provision quote to being pushed by the auto industry is simply bad policy and designed to provide det

the united auto workers, national association of manufacturers, u.s. chamber of commerce and national automobile dealers association as well as more than a dozen governors. it is important we defeat this procedural objection to this program. that we put this money into our economy, give people a chance to buy a new car that is more fuel efficient, put people back to work across america so we can start digging ourselves out of this recession hole. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. gregg: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mr. gregg: first off, i appreciate the assistant majority leader collar frying the situation, that this waiver issue is about and solely about the issue of cash for clunkers, a piece of legislation that has absolutely nothing to do -- nothing to do with funding our troops in the field and was airdropped into a conference without being paid for adding $1 billion of new debt to our children's back. that's what this waiver is about. the majority leader has said that this waiver will in some way harm

the united auto workers get 17.5% of the company for less in claims, 20 billion, and 10 billion in cash, 6.5 billion in preferred stock, 2.5 million i owe you, and warrants for additional two-point represent of the company. would that not create an impression of a double standard? >> i really don't believe so. i really believe that the bondholders represented themselves very well. i think they were better off and had they allowed for a completely uncontrolled bankruptcy. and in terms of a this, is going to require painful sacrifice from the retirees, retirees who did nothing wrong and were not broken shooting this financial crisis and i really do believe there was very careful shares sacrifice in that arrangement. >> thank you. mr. chairman. >> thank you commenting on the last gentleman, as i am not sure that the bondholders were hurt. rather a huge infusion of taxpayer money helped all of the old stakeholders. i think we were more generous with the workers than we were with the bondholders, but if anybody is not being treated well in this is the taxpayers. i want to recognize kathleen

and chrysler, the united auto workers, the business roundtable, the automotive trade policy council, the ohio automobile dealers association, goodyear tire and rubber company, national paint and coating association, the alliance of automobile manufacturers, motor and equipment manufacturers association, specialty equipment market association, the association of international automobile manufacturers, the american iron and steel institute, automotive recycler association, the united steel workers, the national automobile dealers association, the american international automobile dealers, the national association of manufacturers, the a.f.l.c.i.o. and the united states chamber of -- afl-cio and the united states chamber of congress. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the letters be included in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. ms. sutton: mr. speaker, we must pass the bipartisan cars act today for our workers, for our environment, for consumers, for our economy, for our country. i thank you and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro t

that coalition includes the big three automakers, the united states auto workers, car dealers, business groups such as the national association of manufacturers, the chamber of commerce and in the lead the obama administration. today with this legislation we will ensure a strong american manufacturing base. as much as anything that we can do in terms of addressing the issue of the auto industry in our country, this is a national security issue. the auto industry's success is essential to ensuring that we have a strong manufacturing base. this legislation today will ensure that we have a strong manufacturing base and get more fuel-efficient vehicles on the road which is essential to our economy, to our national security and a clean, green future. i commend my colleagues, once again. i commend congresswoman sutton for her determination to accelerate the pace of when we would bring this legislation to the floor and urge a strong bipartisan support for the bill which it certainly deserves. i yield back the balance of my time to the distinguished manager of the bill. thank you, madam speaker

president of the united states, a, does not want to find out who in his administration put him in that position, more importantly who put the people of the auto companies and the workers in that position, or the taxpayers of america in that position, and then as the most transparent administration in american history, does not want to tell the american people who those actors were. it would seem to me that would serve the country well and it would serve our president well. i yield back. mr. latourette: i thank the gentleman. just to continue talking about the dealers and the 200,000 people. you know what, it's more than 200,000 people because i assume most of them have families. husbands, wives, children, grandchildren, whatever the case may be. the other interesting thing about car dealers in my part of the world in ohio, if you go to one of your children's little league games or soccer games, you always see a car dealer has sponsored the team. the car dealer sponsors the chamber of commerce. the car dealer gives to charity. the car dealer does the food drive. so you are talking about not own displacing 200,000 people, you are talking about ripping the heart out of a

auto industry in america. and the united steelworkers who represent hundreds of thousands of workers in jobs supplying the auto industry summed it up like this -- quote, from the glass to the tires to the plastic to the hundreds of pounds of metal that comprise every vehicle, steelworkers manufacture these products in locations across the country. even the paper, the catalogs, the brochures the automakers use to promote their vehicles are often the product of the work of steelworkers. but countless other citizens, union and nonunion, such as auto dealers, accountants, restaurant and shop owners have their jobs tied to the auto industry, end quote. governors from 12 states, including governor strickland from ohio, the governors of michigan, colorado, delaware, illinois, kansas, kentucky, new hampshire, oklahoma, verment, west virginia, and wisconsin all support this effort today. it's time to act, madam speaker. it's time to pass the cars act and i urge a yes vote on the bill. madam speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from ohio yields back the balance of her ti