one of the headlines this morning looking more at the general motors bankruptcy deal. the headline from michigan is that behind the attempt to change the image of general motors is ambivalence about its car of the future. looking at some of the new hybrid vehicles in the pipeline. the associated press has a story that we want to give you -- get your reaction to. "supreme court blocking sale to chrysler -- sale of chrysler to fiat." a related story this morning from the front page of "the detroit free press." bankruptcy profile, "head of the auto task force, bankruptcy filing an hour away. they were left with no doubt that stephen ratner was calling the shots. the chrysler executives still hoped to avoid bankruptcy. the uaw had ratified a second round of concessions. all but a handful of lenders had signed off on the u.s. treasuries offer of $2 billion to write off $6.9 billion in chrysler loans. reluctantly, however, leaders recognized the harsh decision made rate -- made weeks earlier, chrysler was filing for chapter 11 no matter what." part of that plan was to sell c

to get up 15% higher than the highest general motors was in the history of the old general motors. >> let me try to answer that question. i hope i was clear, senator, that there is no guarantee that we would get our money back, but i did say there were scenarios where i thought it was reasonable that we could. i think the only way i would disagree with your logic is that when gm was worth 15% less than that in its all time high, piled on top of that equity was a huge amount of debt. so that the total value of the enterprise was in fact close to a multiple of that number. one of the things we have done by deleveraging the company is we have given the equity more space in the total capital structure. so i think if in fact general motors returned to the total enterprise value that it had in that period, in fact we would get all our money back but i understand those days were reliant on high margin suvs, et cetera. i do not think we would expect that those kind of times would be occurring any time soon. so our analysis is not based on that. i think what it's really based on, though, is a

said general motors cars were terrible quality. at that time, general motors quality had gotten back to the point where it was as good as toyota or honda or any of the rest of it, and they quoted an expert who said the quality is very, very good and no one will buy them. because of their reputation had come along. and we are now facing a situation where that legacy in the market is still there, and i read columnists who say, well, now the governor -- the government will insist that general motors make good cars. i think general motors has been making good cars the last four or five years. but they are running into that problem. as you deal with all of that do you have a reaction? >> i do, and let me start by trying to agree with you. it may not end there, but i think you're right. i think general motors has been kicking problems down the road for a long time. i think that is an accurate description. i think very intelligent thoughtful people have been talking about general motors deep and systemic problems for a long time and they

>> the purchaser is general motors sir, will be 6868%, the u.s. government, 17.5% of the shares will be held by a trust and then the remaining approximately 10% will be held by the unsecured claim it's a general motors. >> so the vehicle acquisition holdings is really dominated by the u.s. treasury. >> they will be the primary shareholders to sell in your filing on the bankruptcy court, when you say on page 40, because there are now far more dealerships than the company's market share can support, including in some cases multiple dealers in a single contracting community and dealerships that have become poorly situated as riddles of changing demographics, the purchaser is not willing to continue all dealerships. that purchaser you've done enough is the u.s. treasury. >> yes, the purchaser is the largest shareholder is the u.s. treasury. >> and it goes on to say here in your comments to the court, among the dealerships that purchaser is not willing to continue, for example, are those approximately 400 dealers who sell fewer than 50 cars per yea an

>> that's correct. >> are their appeal rights for general motors? >> yes, there are sir. >> would you submit to the committee the precise character of those appeal rights. now, would you tell us, please, mr. hendrix and mr. press, just give us a number, how many of the dealer terminations have been changed by the company under the companies under your appellate procedures or under your categories and standard? >> at this point we have changed 45 decisions. we are not complete without reviews but that's the status as of this morning. >> mr. press. >> we have had no change. >> all right. i have heard of the dealer who was terminated. i won't tell you which company it was. were a big storm had caused the collapse of a bridge, and that dealer was essentially shut off from access to his customers. and he was terminated but the company involved has seen fit to reinstate the dealer because they understand the facts. do you have provisions in your termination agreement, mr. henderson and mr. press, that would permit you to address that kind of problem? >> y

to get service for your general motors vehicle. since we don't have the three plus hours to take to drive their even in line of the new camaro is we're using the fastest plane on our air force, the f-15 eagle and to demonstrate their route all i talk to enact new brand of customer service, this will be in 3-d for your enjoyment. it will take a while. just about a month ago general motors and chrysler said what were effectively termination notices to about 2,000 auto dealerships nationwide. we're told these notices are to accelerate restructuring plans that are i must do step for the troubled automaker's and this is a chrysler and gm can emerge successfully from bankruptcy with stable financial support. many dealers in the communities they serve frankly feel blindsided. the mid-may notice is given the form of complex take-it-or-leave-it wind down contracts with weeks to make important and expense of life changing decisions about their own livelihoods. a few explanations, no real opportunity to negotiate corrections or even sell to a

it will take a painful toll on many americans who have relied on general motors throughout the generations. i want to su were directly to all the men and women watching today wondering what all this will mean as far as all their lives are concerned. i know that you have already seen more than your fair share of hard times. we saw 400,000 jobs lost in the auto industry in the year before this restructuring even began. i will not pretend the hard times are over. difficult days lie ahead. more jobs will be lost, more plants will close, more dealerships will shut their doors, and so will many parts suppliers. but i want you to know that what you're doing is making a sacrifice for the next generation, a a sacrifice she may not have chosen to make but one u.n. of less call to make so that your children and ours can grow up in an america that still makes things, still strives for a better future. as our workers and communities passed through these difficult times we as a nation must do airport. so i appointed in march and montgomery, director of the recovery for all two communities and workers. h

for much of the past 100 years general motors has been the largest auto company in the world, the detroit three -- gm, ford and chrysler have fuel the engine of michigan's economy as well as of the u.s. for generations here to do their vehicle manufacturing, countless suppliers and vast dealer network the automotive industry has gritted and supported millions of jobs. with the recent global financial collapse much of the domestic auto industry has been brought to its knees. in 2008 general motors and chrysler lost $30.9 billion and $17 billion respectively. and in order to survive they both filed for bankruptcy. in the bankruptcy process general motors has announced plans to close at roughly 1200 dealerships and chrysler announced plans to close 789 nationwide. the federal government has loaned billions to gm and chrysler in an effort to help stabilize them. billions more have been committed to assist them while emerging from bankruptcy. today's hearing will focus on several issues associated with general motors and chrysler is decisions to close more than 2,000 dealerships across the cou

i think there is sacrifice in general motors to go around for every one. there are enormous victims of the fact that general motors is a failed enterprise. bondholders are clearly among them. the communities who have come to rely on those jobs, the dealers, the list is very long. tragically, this company became insolvent, very insolvent and it is a failed enterprise. that meant that the only way to revitalize it, we had 3 choices, we could have let it liquidate with all the damage that would have caused, we could have made good on all promises with taxpayer dollars and that would have been many multiples of the investment that has already been made, we could have taken a commercial which is what we believe we did, a commercial approach to this restructuring. and in a commercial approach to restructuring, a business under, financial investor will look in a pretty hard-nosed way at who is needed to make the company succeed going forward and do is not. in general motors, the decision was made, as a was in chrysler, which we supported, to take the suppliers an

fritz henderson who's chief executive officer of the general motors corporation, mr. john mccelaney, and mr. russell aubrey watley iii, owner dealer, russell watley motor company. and i'm going to do a little switch here. i would like to start by calling on the two auto dealers. and i think they will help us set a tone and it will be helpful to all concerned. so mr. lopez, if you would be willing, sir, we call on you for your comments. try to hold them to five minutes. >> we want toities cuss how dealerships by gm and chrysler are drastically hurting small businesses. my name is pete lopez, from censer, west virginia. a small rural town of approximately 3,800 people about an hour out of charleston, west virginia. i'm the owner of spencer auto gl group, which is made up of two dealerships on main street america. chrysler, jeep, dodge, plus chevrolet and buick dealerships. we stfs six county areas in west virginia, and i am the face of chrysler and general motors to my community and my customers. mr. chairman, within the past three weeks, i have been informed that both o

the president has weighed on whether general motors should move to warren, michigan. here's an invitation for those who may be listening, if you know of a washington car czar who deserves to be honored, please e-mail me at car award at alexander.credit. and after you write me, i hope you'll write or call your congressmen and senators and remind them to enact the auto stock for every taxpayer act as soon as general motor emerges from bankruptcy. all you need to say are these eight magic words: i paid for it, i should own it. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to include in the record the wall street article entitled "barney frank car sphwhrar." thank you, mr. president, i yield the floor. -- car czar". thank you, mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: mr. president, let me be very clear, our health care system is disintegrating. today 46 million americans have no health insurance and even more are underinsured with high deductibles and h and co-paymen. at a time when 06 million peopl

thank you khan -- >> general motors even mr.press, i guess i'm concerned as i see the opening areas about the rural areas where i live have any of you talked about 100,000, 80,000, i don't have a county in my district that house 70,000. i am a vast rural leary and i think we have got six chrysler dealerships being closed, maybe four or five, maybe more than that in my district of general motors. heil or people going to get service? if i bought a car this year at general motors or chrysler and my dealer is closed how do i get surface on my car? am i going to have to drive two hours somewhere else when might service light comes on? i mean, how do you do it and especially when you talk about the loyalty and of rural areas you've got him% greater loyalty base but we are getting hard hit. >> mr. chairman i appreciate the concern especially with the customers and that is a very fair question, customer size is important. after the case of the reorganization we actually increased the share of the dealer body in the rural markets. a high

in the case of general motors, to pay off the secured debt.there was a whole variety of needs the company had. that determined the starting point. the second step was directly on your point, how do you determine how much should be dead and how much should be equity? as i said in my opening comments, the president did not start out wanting to be a shareholder but the dilemma we faced, one of the company's core problems for a lot of years was it is too highly leveraged. for us to try to fix general motors with more debt would not have fixed the problem. general motors's key competitors, companies like toyota and volkswagen's have minimal levels of debt, approximately equal to the amount of cash on the balance sheet or one year profit. we were very mindful of general motors, a competitive balance sheet, that is one of the competitive weapons in the marketplace. if we were not going to burden the company with debt, the only remaining security would be equity. and we did not want to give this money away, this is the taxpayers' hard-earned money. th

>> two. >> and how many shareholders did general motors have? >> we had 550 million shares outstanding so thousands and thousands of shareholders. >> they're just out today? >> yes. >> okay. these dealers, what's their dealership worth without the brand and maybe somebody from the dealership can give me that. >> practically zero. >> practically zero. >> senator, the value of their business would be the franchise value and the real estate, essentially, real estate has been seriously devalued because these are single purpose buildings that will not be reoccupied and the value of the franchise are what we call good will or blue sky is virtually gone. >> let me ask chrysler and gm, what's the value of the bonds today? the indebtedness? is it ten cents on the dollar, 15 cents on the dollar, five cents on the dollar? >> in the caves our bonds, they have generally traded less than 20 cents on the dollar. in some case less than 10 cents on the dollar. >> chrysler? >> we have no bond. the equity holders will receive approximately 29 cents on the dollar.

that bank has not just for general motors obviously for chrysler has the ability to provide financial services to gm dealers and customers and if i think about the situation last fall versus today, and the ability for gmac to provide competitive products and services, product services and gm dealers and customer, we are away from where we are. confident that we will be a successful partner going forward. the third is we are in the process of right sizing our inventory. our dealer's inventory, given the level of sales experienced in the market, driven large i think our job is to make sure we get our level of inventory in line, maintain it there, so that the inventory pressure situation in our view isn't necessarily given the environment tenable. we need to basically go to market with more equily brie yum! versus the market-sales. so i think it talks about products, customers, financial services that can support that and then finally how we run our production schedules. this is a significant change from what we've historically been able to accomplish in the past. [captioning performed b

2349 case of general motors, the money received so far, senator, have been used to finance the losses that we have incurred this year. and late last year. and with respect to the monies that will be dispersed to us pursuant to the bankruptcy, it would be our expectation to use it to fund losses and restructure the business. that's how the monies will be used. >> i can't confirm the amount. i think our company is around $15 billion or so. so i'm not sure what the amount is. from our standpoint, we're spending about $100 million a day of d.i.p. financing through the bankruptcy. that's one of the reasons we need to get through that, that's taxpayer money. and we utilize the initial funds for the fact that because of the meteor hitting the industry and we're in a depression, there is insufficient volume to be able to pay the cost to keep the companies afloat. we did find and were given the approval for an alliance and a new company to be formed with fiat that will give us a new product line, a new company, a new start, and a return on that investment to the taxpayers that will be much bet

while general motors is likely to take somewhat longer to move to the process, we are confident that it will emerge quickly as a stronger, more viable company. because gm needed substantial capital that only a government could provide, and because we are committed to not piling on irresponsible amounts of new debt on top of the new gm, it will become reluctant shareholder in general motors. the administration did not seek this outcome. it arrived at the conclusion that it represents a more responsible way to protect taxpayers while giving gm an opportunity to succeed. as the president made clear, we will manage this investment commercially and exit our position as quickly as we can. both restructurings have required deep and painful sacrifices from all stakeholders, including workers, retirees, suppliers, creditors, and countless committees that revive on a vibrant american auto industry. . . taken have not only helped to stabilize the auto industry and saved hundreds of thousands of jobs, but for the first time in decades, they have also given gm and chrysler a chance to become viab

so for us to try to fix general motors with more debt would simply have not fix the problem. general motors key contenders among them companies like toyota and volkswagen have a very minimal levels of debt. dad approximately equal either to the amount of cash they have on the balance sheet or one year's profit. so we were very mindful of trying to set up general motors to have a competitive balance sheet because that is one of the competitive weapons in the marketplace. and so that really left us that if we were not going to overburden the company with debt and the only remaining security we can have with it the equity and certainly we did not want to give this money away, this is the taxpayers' hard-earned money and so the determination was to take equity. in terms of the size of the stake and how that was determined, that was determined in arms length dealings with the other key stakeholders to the company who wanted two also be owners. that included the bondholders where we had a vigorous debate and the uaw on behalf of the retiree trust and they obviously wanted more equi

i'm not familiar with general motors. what we've done is created a new company that will be formed at the end of this process and the dealers that will be in that new company have been identified from all of the dealers that were with the old company. in regards to that, we have a limited period of time from when the bankruptcy was filed to when the new company has to be finalized. if we do not have a finalized dealer organization, the new company will not be formed and the company will have to liquidate. we also, in terms of the process, the strategic market representation actions, the consolidation of single brands, were done from a point of view not as a mistake or what a dealer has or hasn't done. it isn't up to an appeal from a dealer. it's a strategic market decision of what the new company wants their dealer body to look like. >> we have many dealers who invested $5 million, who got the cars when you guys asked them to get the cars. they clearly feel they haven't been treated fairly here. one of the things, as i lo

this is a business that's been in partnership with general motors for 80 years. third-generation. and g.m. asked this dealer to pack up and relocate and now they are targeted for closure. due in part to that relocation. this is a dealership that has served an area of more than 100,000 people sold more than 2 million in parts and confidently several popular here's the in the entire county will go from multiple g.m. dealerships to absolutely none leaving geographic areas without any dealers, without customers having to rely on providing, getting the service that they depend upon, having to drive 100 miles or mohr for service well if you don't have as far as you're not going to have any sales. i go not know how you re-emerge from bankruptcy and establish viability on that basis when you're reducing your market share to virtually nothing. the american taxpayers provided billions of dollars. and ultimately the autodealers are now on the front lines. with the hash consequences of failure at the top. and they deserve better, far better than what they are getting, and i hope we can addres

there buckling under a hundred $70 billion in debt for general motors, -- $170 billion in debt for general motors. the plan has largely been adopted as one of the prepackaged gm and chrysler bankruptcy proposals. i believe that once finalized, they will result in a savings of thousands of american jobs. that is my hope. and potentially, the preservation of a critical sector. communities all across collation are not going to be scared. -- to be scared -- spared. it will continue to raise questions over unprecedented government involvement. to me, these questions can be summed up as follows. how exactly are taxpayer dollars being used to restructure the auto industry? why does the government taking such large ownership stakes in these companies? is the government doing everything it can to protect american jobs? what assistance is being provided to communities devastated by auto plant and a dealer closing periods -- and a dealer closings. and when can we expect a return in the investments we have made? i like to address what i would regard to be a false something -- that declined the restruc

another question for both general motors and cries already. chrysler. how many are in a position where you will just eliminate the local dealership and replace them with other dealers because you felt the local dealer was underperforming? can you provide us a number? >> first of all, with regard to the multiple sister platforms, we had to do six of those and they are not our request. it's because we have stand-alone dealers. if there's a jeep or a dodge stand-alone only dealer and we don't do a dodge version of the van, then they can't be supported. we have stopped making those and the dealer body stand-alone is not viable any longer. that's the reason for it in the cost. the answer is we can provide you with a list. it's not a large number of those points that we are going to be going back into, but i can give you that number. >> would each of the companies provide us with the number of the dealerships that you are going to close and that you will then replace because you felt the current dealerships were underperforming? i want to ask mr. lopez and mr

. >> next, senate republicans hold a briefing on the general motors and chrysler bankruptcy proceedings. we will hear about a bill that would transfer stock in the two auto companies directly from the government to taxpayers. from capitol hill earlier today, this is 25 minutes. >> lamar alexander, with me, senator kyl is going to join the senate humans. he is coming from the finance committee. we are introducing today the auto stock for every taxpayer act to require the treasury to distribute to individual taxpayers all the stock in the new gm and chrysler within one year following the emergence of the new gm from bankruptcy proceedings. this is the best way to get the auto companies out of the hands of washington bureaucrats and politicians and into the hands of the american people in the marketplace where it belongs. so instead of the treasury polling 60% of the shares of new gm and 8% of shares of chrysler, he went on them. if you are one of 120 million americans who paid federal taxes on april 15th. this is the fastest way to get the stock out of the hands of washington and back int

you have worked hard to save in your savings account to be invested in general motors. you know what i think the response would have been, they would have laughed at me and hung up. they would have laughed at me and hung up and yet on monday our government bought general motors appear and by every definition i can seem that is probably the poorest investment you could possibly make. and then this on top of all of that with dealerships close, people losing their jobs, i don't see how this makes any sense. so i want to hear today about your role of the administration. i want to know who had this plan. i am not saying who had it for approval, but who did you submitted to before you roll it out that is an associated in any way with the administration. i also want to just mention as i wrap up my comments today, i am going to speak on the senate floor about this tomorrow but i have an amendment that basically says if you're going to use t.a.r.p. money and going to end up with the ownership of the stock of a company, you have to get congressional approval. you see, i think it'

. >> how much cash money are they going to be out in the case of general motors? >> they shouldn't be out any. >> when you take back inventory? parts, vehicles and specialized equipment. >> the case of general motors if the dealer chooses to wind down, we anticipate through that period they will not only sell their cars, they would sell their part by virtue of the fact that they would be able to ride work in service to customers and finally the tools would be amortized. a dealer who terminates, if they just choose to voluntarily terminate by virtue of our agreement with gmac, a dealer can return the cars to gmac and we would redistribute the cars with no cost to the dealers. >> thank you. my time has expired. . . >> without using taxpayer money, finding a way to reduce inventory and to do with in a manner where it did not cost the taxpayers, which we did the redistribution program. that was implemented and we did redistribute 100% of the vehicles that we are happy to say that is complete. >> that had to happen very late last night because as 7:00 last night we had

789 chrysler and 1350 general motors dealerships face terminations. these dealerships employ over 100,000 people. these people deserve more. the chrysler dealership terminations are particularly harsh. these 789 dealers were given 26 days to wind down. also, chrysler's refused to buy back vehicles, parts and special equipment. no manufacturer has ever done this. just four days after chrysler dealers received their termination letters, media reports said that chrysler already was planning to re-enter some of the very markets that they were abandoning. with respect to gm, the effects were actually broader. yesterday, gm delivered to my dealership a quote, participation letter which every gm dealer must sign. even though i am one of the quote, go forward dealers, i will have to make significant changes that could threaten the viability of my dealership and my employees. actually, gm's letter is a 24 page binding legal contract. senator snowe referred to a 12-page agreement. mine is 24. if i sign it, i will be committing my business to spend hundreds of t

his grandfather formed the dealership for general motors in 1918.he served as lieutenant in the u.s. marine corps from 1969 to 1972. he's a graduate of stanford university. serves on the boards of the united way, greater bend rotary, st. charles hospital foundation, boys and girls club, bend chamber of commerce, oregon state university, cascades campus and the central oregon visitors organization. the kind of person you'd want to represent your company in central oregon. >> next is mr. daniel. he was requested by mr. -- am i saying your name right or wrong? [inaudible] >> okay. thanks for being here. and mr. dicks asked that you be here. mr. james gollac, mr. doyle, you want to say a few words. >> thanks, mr. chairman. it's a pleasure to welcome my friend at today's hearing. jim and his family have been at the same location in pittsburgh since 1935. a business that's still owned and operated by his family. they started with a hudson franchise and then they sold cars from amc, jeep, and later eagle. several mergers later, they were a successful jeep

in addition, just this week general motors has begun its process the saying that it would close up tobe approximately 2300 and give our take of the dealerships in this country following on sun hundred 89 dealerships from chrysler. now, just to put this in perspective, these families of these dealers who have made such an investment and who have taken a really the financial burden for these dealerships the monday by the inventory, they take the financial risk the, it's a huge burden for those who have stood and those around the country. but we're alsoç talking about 40,000 employees of these dealerships so we're talking about 40,000 families the size of the dealer some solace and we're talking about communities because i remember selling ads for the high-school football program and my hometown and u.s. the right person to buy that program for the students that came in for their first experience at selling -- it was of the auto dealer in town and my home town we had one. i remember that and i know all of this country people remember that. united way to is their first supporting the com

it would mean we would have 120 million or so americans to own general motors and chrysler. that is 60% of gm. >> uaw fund owns about 17%. that is non-loading. the government of canada owns 12% and the bondholders on the rest. it would be widely dispersed. we would be back in the light companies are supposed operate and the presidents instead of driving their hybrids from detroit to washington every day to answer some subcommittee's questions about the next car model could focus on designing and building and selling cars and competing and try to make the value of the stock go up. >> senator alexander, with some money-- would you support any legislation that would protect the percentage of those jobs in tennessee or any other states? >> i don't know, what kind of legislation would that be? i believe in the free market. the jobs are in tennessee. we have gone from having almost no auto jobe's-- we are right to work law and other states thumper coolio low taxes and other states don't. we have one of the best four-lane highway systems and other states don't so that is why nissan

general motors has been with us the whole time from 1918 forward. we have been gm to our community, now it is a dark time when gm must abandon our town, our region and gas. just as gm is an icon that we enjoy iconic status of our region, always there and noise level and compassionate, always act irresponsibly. the letters we were hobbling in their appreciation of our caliber and quality of service and committed to support. moreover there was confusion as to why ben now 80,000 strong will be abandoned as will we come other dealer of choice, the largest gm dealership in central and eastern oregon. their world is crumbling, things they thought they could count on being are taken away, longstanding reliability, integrity, a safe harbor in a very real sense our customers are afraid. who benefits from this taking? this cancellation that is so unnecessary, so wrong, so wrong executed, not gm? having no dealer in bennett will not for increased jann sales, up to a 16,000 people in our region left solely with a small gm dealer in the tiny town and as paramete

market the way general motors had back in the '50s, that will not happen. highly competitive, which is good for the consumer. i think ultimately the consumer will benefit but the united states will benefit, too, both with a revitalized domestic manufacturing base and also the new entrants -- the folks baden is building a brand-new plant in chattanooga, tennessee. -- the folks by then it is building a brand-new plant antennas -- volkswagen is building a brand-new plant. host: discussions over fuel economy, what sort of other role does the alliance have with current discussions on capitol hill regarding the auto industry? guest: we of the trade association of industry or energy, environment, safety. safety is a critical component. so we work closely with congress and in a station on safety issues. and the innovation and trying to help consumers and others understand policy-makers, what new technology actually is coming to the market. host: is there a state in this country that does not have a piece of the industry, whether it is a parts plant or some other su

the president of general motors made it clear. it is the treasury's decision when they sell the stock according to the law today. he said it is a large amount of stock and senator kyl said selling it would have to be done in stages over years. it could be done in a few months and we are out of it. that means we have 120 million americans who own general motors and chrysler. that's 60% of general motors. the uaw fund owns 17%, and non- voting. the government of canada owns 12% in the bondholders hold the rest. it would be widely dispersed and we would be back to the companies are supposed to operate. instead of driving their hybrids from detroit to washington every day to answer questions from subcommittee about the next car model could focus on the design and building of cars and trying to make the value of their stock go up. >> would you support any legislation that would protect jobs in tennessee? >> i don't know what kind of legislation that would be. i believe in the free market. the jobs are in tennessee. we've gone from havi

treasury 60% ownership of general motors and 8% ownership of chrysler. now for the second car czar award, there are many deserving contenders. for example, this afternoon my distinguished colleague, the honorable chris dodd, mr. frank's senate counterpart, is chairing a banking committee hearing featuring two of the administration's chief meddlers in washington-owned auto companies. one is mr. ron bloom, a senior advisor on the auto industry at treasury. the other is mr. ed montgomery, white house director of recovery for auto communities and workers. and tomorrow over in the house of representatives, the financial services committee will hold a hearing on salaries of workers in companies the government owns. another obvious contender for the car czar award today is the administration's new chief price fixer for the cost of labor, mr. kenneth fineberg who will review and approve how managers of car companies are paid. according to "the new york times" article on june 8, mr. fineberg is likely not just to tell government-owned car companies and banks how

. >> i ask unanimous consent to put this document from general motors that looks like they may have e mail last night, but 10 pages, the one we have been discussing. >> without objection. i would make the point* it may be helpful for the dealers to be able to see a copy to review. >> since it is in the record we will put on the table if they planned to look at it. >> that will be helpful. >> next mr. burgess. >> i have a map of the united states that pertains adjust to chrysler for the moment. it looks like what a republican and what would like the electoral map. [laughter] but it is chrysler dealers. my state of texas all the three happen brothers release baird in the economic downturn, our state has been hit pretty hard with the closings. there is a member in the northeast, as chairman of the house financial services committee able to make a phone call to get one of this dealerships or distributors to stay open. what is the number i need to call? is it 1800 car czar? celly who to call so i can help the dealers in my area that have been so badly hurt. >> i don't understand your quest

and i think a lot of people do get that impression that all the jobs in america like general motors or general electric, or, you know, mobile oil or whatever it happens to be. but in reality, what we find is, you define small business as about 500 or so employees or less. small businesses create almost 80% of the new jobs in america. what you're saying is exactly spot on to what our data shows. and if you're looking at 80% of the new jobs and you're looking here at an increasing level of unemployment, what you should be paying attention is what you are doing for small business. and we are doing something, you are going to slap a great big tax on them to cover up all of this spending. and what's going to happen is your's going to dry up the potential of those new jobs that can come from small business. i will jump over to my the gentleman from georgia and he has a passion about freedom and economic issues. my good friend, dr. broun from the atlanta area? mr. broun: s south of athens georgia. and i represent northeast georgia. if you put the date of this week on the next bar going back t

many cases a few years before to invest millions of dollars of their own in order to promote the general motors brand, the dealers whose families go back three and four generations, some 85 to 90 years of continuous ownership, of service to the community and their doors will be shut by general motors as a result of a letter and the letter has completely changed the rules as to why they should stay open. dealerships that are profitable, dealerships that add to the community, dealerships that pump billions of dollars into state and local sales tax coffers. closed by the -- by a letter. without explanation. how outrageous. so outrageous that the majority leader of the house of representatives, steny hoyer, whom i joined at a press conference just a few hours ago, made these statements -- two sundays ago i was on a telephone call with the folks at the white house who are helping to make our policy with respect to this and i asked them this -- what money does it save the manufacturer, general motors or chrysler if you shut down a dealership? the answer, zero, zero, zero. this is the official answer

on the part of the interest of the new general motors, right? in canada is part interest?>> yes, sir. >> are we closing and dealerships in canada? >> we went through a similar process. >> did you hold hearings in canada? >> we did not. >> mr. press, we got the new chrysler and old chrysler, will the new chrysler dealers required to sell fiats? >> with a required to sell fiats? we haven't established a brand position and product plan afford from now or alliance we will be branding fiats or some other brand. >> was it one of fiats considerations for helping out here with the new chrysler to get their product line in the united states? >> part of the new company is definitely going to benefit for the $10 billion worth of resources and product of a limit and hardware from fiats that gives tremendous car in trees and technology that would bring in our product line. >> are you required to sell fiats is line asking. >> we are going to have cars that have fiats technology or engines. >> but a car that says fiat? >> we haven't yet determined what brands and names will be on the veh

these are people who want to be loyal to general motors, who want to be supportive to general motors, and feel like they are being forced to bear a major brunt of this. and again i rise today because i have lived and worked and these are people who have coached me growing up and have been involved in all of our lives in such a critical component to our community and many times i have risen on this house floor to talk about the workers and the unions and how, you know, the youngstown steel doors and the u.a.w. workers have been hurt but workers are workers and these people deserve to be heard just as much as everyone else and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: mr. jones. ms. kaptur. mr. paul. ms. jackson lee. mr. mcclintock. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> request permission to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcclintock: thank you. mr. speaker, the governor of my home state of california has called for the federal government to underwrite as much as $15 bill

hummer, sold by general motors is going to be approved by a chinese firm. but that's not what they see in the firm. host: what do you know about this chinese firm? guest: nothing, it's heavy manufacturer market, and they are entering the market from upper end than those from smaller vehicles. there will be outplacement of some vehicles. chrysler is trying to marry up with fiat. i think you will see a lot of small, fuel efficient vehicles in the market. but they will make them in u.s. as well. host: a viewer wrote about hummers, they were used in the military and is that a good idea to sell to china? but the hummer is not made by the military. guest: that's separate, g.m. had the rights to the hummer brand. and the h-1 is discontinued. so these are smaller versions. host: round rock, texas, good morning. caller: good morning, i have a chrysler now and i am unemployed and i tried to get them to go down on my payments so i can afford to make my payments. they don't want to listen to me. why should i want to give money to chrysler and chevrolet, because you hav