mr. bloom. and thank you, dr. montgomery. senator bunning? >> thank you, mr. chairman. last month secretary geithner told this committee the government was going to -- and i use his word "try," that's his word, not to interfere in choosing which plants to close or dealers to close or other specifics of bankruptcy plans. i should also note that he said that he would come directly back to this committee once gm filed for bankruptcy. but i don't see him here today. so i'll ask you the question instead. did the government in any way influence the selection of plant or dealerships to close? >> i could answer that question very directly, senator. the answer is no. >> okay. thank you. for the taxpayers' sake in gm, just to break even, the new general motors will have to get up to a market capitalization of about $70 billion. that is roughly 15% higher than gm's all-time high when there's as a much larger company it was selling high margin suvs as fast as they could make them. it seems pretty clear to

mr. bloom may not be able to answers that are the subject of that ongoing litigation and if that's the case a question may be asked and you'll have to respond accordingly mr. bloom and i raised those two issues that have been brought to my attention and i want to welcome our two witnesses as part of the table. i'm going to take a couple of minutes here for an opening statement and turn to senator shelby and we'll get to the hearing. let me say at the outset, what the bottom line for me. is every member here will have a different point of view. getting out of the automobile industry by the united states government yesterday would not be soon enough for me. my hope is whatever else -- whatever we like or dislike about the present configuration, that i want to see us get out of this business as quickly as we can. that's my interest. obviously, there are matters to discuss on how this is all working. but i start any discussion and debate from that point of view. and again, my colleagues will expres

just as mr. bloom has discussed the challenges to our two biggest auto companies, and the steps we are taking to help meet these challenges, i want to briefly discuss the process we have begun to help the hundreds of auto communities struggling to deal with rising unemployment. when president obama appointed me as the new director of recovery from auto communities and workers, my mandate was to cut through red tape and ensure the full resources of our federal government are leverage to assist the workers, communities that have historically relied upon the auto industry. the administration is creating a comprehensive effort that uses the unprecedented levels of resources and funding provided by the recovery act available through the regular government programs. we've also been engaged by the effort to identify new initiatives that may be helpful going forward in an effort to help the auto community. my first order of business was to get out and hear from affected workers, businesses and commune phillips

as mr. bloomdiscussed the challenges to our biggest auto companies, and the steps we're taking to meet these challengess, i want to discuss the process that has begun to help the hundreds of auto communities struggling to deal with rising unemployment. when president obama named me the director of recovery, my mandate was to cut through red tape and ensure the full resources of the federal government are leveraged to assist workers, communities and regions that have relied upon the auto industry. the administration is developing a comprehensive effort that will lift up the greatest, hard hit areas by using unprecedented levels of resources and funding provided by the recovery act. we have been engaged in efforts to identify new initiatives that may be helpful going forward to support auto communities. to directly hear from affected workers, businesses and the communities, town halls, meeting in michigan, ohio, indiana, stakeholders identify ways in which the federal government can be helpful. we c

>> mr. bloom, i assume you could be making a lot more money with a lot less aggravation doing something else. i'm grateful to you and mr. montgomery. it was good being with you in indiana, the town hall meeting while you were in our state. i'm one of those that thought it was not an appropriate thing to run a gamble with the economy. there was sober analysis that if we let these businesses fail it would be a lot of communities that would have been hurt by this. and if the economy had been grow big leaps and bounds, maybe that's a risk worth running, but given the present state of the economy, i think the better judgment was to not run that risk, as long as there was a credible -- and i emphasize the word credible -- plan in place to maximize a plan that the investors are going to get a return on their money. if you have a reasonable prospect of getting repaid, it was the right thing to do. i would like to focus on that issue. and mr. bloom, i understand you want to maintain maximum flexibility her

mr. bloom, ron bloom, on the president's automobile task force and basically said, what happened? she was on the call she heard that everything was going to be ok. now all of a sudden she finds that a chrysler plant that provides 13% of her city's tax base is going to be closed and 1,200 people will be out of work. so basically she said, look, i watched the president, i was on these telephone calls. what happened? and mr. bloom, in a letter dated may 6, writes back that what the president's comments were meant to convey, they meant to convey the message that the bankruptcy of chrysler had in no way changed these plans. i ask unanimous consent to put this into the record as well. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. latourette: what the plans are they're talking about, both car companies, chrysler and g.m., filed viability plans with the task force in february, february 17, i believe. they were both rejected. but somewhere in conversations between the auto task force and chrysler, it

just as mr. bloom has discussed the challenges to our two biggest auto companies, and the steps we are taking to help meet these challenges, i want to briefly discuss the process we have begun to help the hundreds of auto communities struggling to deal with rising unemployment. when president obama appointed me as the new director of recovery from auto communities and workers, my mandate was to cut through red tape and ensure the full resources of our

by that, i mean, mr. bloom testified yesterday or the day before in the united states senate and senator hutchison of the state of texas said, hey, i don't understand a couple of things. first of all, it's a strange business model that you can sell more stuff with less stores. not a lot of -- i never learned that in econ 101 or anywhere else when i was in school. but we don't think car dealers cost the car companies any money. but this issue has come up, who said that all these car dealers costing 200,000 people to lose their jobs needed to be closed. the gentleman's point is this. when chrysler and g.m. submitted their studies about how they wanted to proceed, they had a plan, an orderly closeout of dealerships and consolidations, and they were told -- they were told they weren't air gressive enough. specifically, mr. bloom testified over in the senate that when they rejected the plans, i think we said that general motors is burdened by excess capacity. we said that their plant footprint, the manufacturing pla

i guess mr. bloom and my first question for you is whether or not you'd be willing or could shed some light i'm sure is in the bankruptcy documents on some of the underlying assumptions that underlay the arm's-length negotiation you're talking about. what were some of the assumptions relating to the sales of automobiles in the united states to cash flow of company's? how did you and the other party is think about how to value first in the enterprise itself and then to distributed to constituencies and the bankruptcy estate? >> yes, sir, let me first thank you for those kind words relative to this been. at the benjamin franklin said in a hanging tends to concentrate the mind. i think that is what we had in the case of chrysler and i think it was a good tonic. relative to how we went about our business in this bargain, essentially the process was the following but companies in each case came up with the business plan and it is the management obviously who is responsible for putting forth a business plan.

i have them for that mr. bloom might not be able to answer questions that are the subject of that ongoing litigation. if that is the case, you have to respond accordingly. i raise those two issues that have been brought to my attention. i want to welcome our to witnesses as part of the table. i will take a couple of minutes for an opening statement and onto senator shelby. let me say the bottom line for me. getting out of the automobile industry would not be soon enough for me if it were to happen yesterday. my hope is, what ever we like or dislike, i want to see as get out of this business as quickly as we can. i would start any discussion or debate from that point of view. it can't be soon enough and that matter. on the state of the american automobile industry, today's hearing is unique because for the first time, we will be hearing directly from the administration officials who are giving assistance to america's auto industry. failure of any one of detroit's's big three poses a systemic risk to the economy. fro

. >> mr. bloom, references made in the previous question about intervention from congressman barney frank. you can see why that leads to sell much suspicion even among members of this panel. i don't have that kind of power, dealerships imposed in the state of nebraska. were you aware of that? did the ceo or somebody call you and say what do i do with this? barnard frank what this facility left open? >> we were not. >> did you learn about it after the fact? >> i learned about it the same way you learned about it. >> do you know of any special deals that have been made? that we have not press the they did in? >> we have not participated in that activity. i can only speak to what the president has directed the administration officials to do and what we have been admonish to do and what we have done. we are going to continue to do what he has those do. >> does that mean you don't know of any other special deals that were struck? >> i don't know what i don't know. i can tell you the auto task force has b

doctor marguerite, thank you for being here and thank you for your service to mr. bloom. thank you for being here. thank you for your service. >> thank you. >> every weekend, the latest nonfiction books and authors on c-span2 book tv. saturday, how do you run for congress with $7000 and/or six grade grade students are managing the campaign? ms. cahill for congress. she is interviewed by washington delegate calendar homes norton. >> and what's next for the economy? stephen moore, former reagan economic policy advisor on taxes and in the prosperity >> i don't really know. from public television. >> donations. >> i don't know where the money comes from. >> federally. >> it comes from donors. >> how is c-span funded? 30 years ago america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiatives, no public mandate, no public money. >> u.s. senate is about to gavel in the start for the day. burst of general speeches for about four hours until 2 p.m. eastern. at that point lawmakers will have half an hour of wrap up debate on the tobacco products regul

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 much to pay people. it's likely -- quote -- "everyone else's compensation will be monitored too." but there is time next week to honor all these worthy contenders. today's car czar award clearly should go to the members of the wisconsin and michigan and tennessee congressional delegations, each of whom met today in washington with g.m. executives imploring them to build small cars in our home states. i

[applause] that to accept the bloom award on behalf of hurt is mr.n, executive producer of bbc world news america. [applause] >> congratulations to our winner. [applause] >> nicole, christine, and the, -- eva, i'll never forget when i woke up in the spring of 2003 and turned on the today show and saw your father broadcasting live from an american tank rolling up to the sands and iraq. i remember thinking, as a lot of people in this room did, this guy has changed the game. this instance. forever. i know you are very proud of him. i know that ora admired the kind of journalism your father practiced. i think he would of admire the kind of journalism that she does. she is brave, she is tough, she is smart, she is real, and she has the instincts to be right middle of the story. not to grandstand, but to know, as you all saw on that report, that that is the way to tell human, compelling stories that really make an impact. we're really proud to have a chance to showcase her work and that of other bbc journalists around the world on bbc world news america. i

blooming is true. they are in their country, not even over there. -- people blaming israel. to me, mr. obama has sort of inflamed this situation in my opinion. they are two parties over there, ahmadinejad, whatever his name is, will not give in and will have to be put out. america's policies -- when one gets end they just hold on to do whatever they can. of the van so far as we know killing someone to stay in office. but i think that his speeches have and landed the situation around the world. host: back to twitter. if you like to start using it just good to twitter -- go to twitter.com to learn about it. we want to remind you that one of our upcoming guests later wrote this piece which says ahmadinejad one, get over it. he will be on with us at 9:00 a.m. eastern to take your questions and comments on iran. chicago has been standing by, a democrat. is the president's approach correct? caller: absolutely correct. people need to look back to 1953. if you were to do anything different, all he would do is emboldened ahmadinejad. i hope that i pronounced his name correctly -- it would be ev