GOP Sens:Obama Plan For Auto Suppliers A 'Violation Of Trust'
20 March 2009 - 8:51AM
Dow Jones News
The Obama administration's new $5 billion program to aid auto
parts suppliers came under fire Thursday from two influential
Capitol Hill Republicans, who said the move could hurt the
administration's relations with Congress.
Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., accused the
administration of going against previous pledges to limit aid to
the industry to help with restructuring expenses for General Motors
Corp. (GM) and Chrysler LLC.
The new lending facility, designed to prevent the collapse of
the nation's biggest car-parts suppliers, "is a violation of trust
and flies in the face of the administration's assurances that aid
would only be given to General Motors and Chrysler and only be used
for comprehensive restructuring," the senators said in a
statement.
Corker went on to accuse the administration of using a "sleight
of hand" that will "make it very difficult for them to win
congressional support at a time when they really need it."
Gregg criticized the administration for using funds from the
banking-rescue program - the Troubled Asset Relief Program - on the
auto industry. "TARP money should be used for the purpose of
stabilizing the financial system and not for industrial policy," he
said in the statement.
-By Josh Mitchell, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6637;
joshua.mitchell@dowjones.com