2nd UPDATE:Obama:Automakers Need To Do More For Extra Government Funding
30 March 2009 - 3:12AM
Dow Jones News
A day before he unveils his plans for the U.S. auto industry,
President Barack Obama said car makers, unions and creditors will
have to make sacrifices to weather the economic slump and emerge
"lean and mean."
"They're not quite there yet," Obama told CBS News's Face the
Nation.
With a Tuesday deadline looming for General Motors Corp. GM) and
Chrysler LLC (C.XX) to show that they are on the road to viability,
Obama will make an announcement on the industry Monday morning. GM
and Chrysler, which took $17.4 billion in government assistance
late last year, have asked for another $22 billion. Obama didn't
say if the request will be granted, but has hinted that he's
willing to give further help to the firms in exchange for
significant sacrifices.
"What we're trying to let them know is that we want to have a
successful auto industry, U.S. auto industry. We think we can have
a successful U.S. auto industry, but it's got to be one that is
realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge at the
other end much more lean, mean and competitive that it currently
is," Obama told CBS.
"And that's going to mean a set of sacrifices from all parties
involved - management, labor, shareholders, creditors, suppliers,
dealers. Everybody's going to have to come to the table and say
it's important for us to take serious restructuring steps now in
order to reserve a brigther future down the road.
"They're not there yet," Obama repeated.
Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, interviewed on
ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos", refused to reveal any
details of the government's plans for the auto industry.
On other issues, Obama denied that he has abandoned his
signature "Making Work Pay" tax credit, which would be phased out
after two years under current budget proposals. The president said
he will work to find a way to pay for the credit that is acceptable
to lawmakers.
"What've I've said is, if you don't wanna pay for it in those
ways, let's find another way to pay for it. I think it's still the
right thing to do. And I'm gonna be pushing as hard as I can to get
it done in this budget," he said. "If it's not done in this budget
then I'm gonna keep on pushing for it next year and the year
afterwards so that we don't see a drop-off."
Asked about his high-profile meeting last week with the
country's top banking executives, Obama said he urged the financial
sector to "show some restraint."
"Help me help you," Obama said he told the bankers at the White
House Friday. "It's very difficult for me as president to call on
the American people to make sacrifices to help shore up the
financial system if there's no sense of mutual obligation and
mutual help."
"Now, the flip side is, I've gotta explain to the American
people we're not gonna get this recovery if we don't see a recovery
of the financial sector," he said. "And there's no separation
between Main Street and Wall Street. We're all in this together.
And it's my job to help keep that focus as we move forward."
The president elaborated on his recently-unveiled strategy in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. He called the conflict in Afghanistan
"America's war," and said the U.S. would work with Pakistan's
government to take out any known "high-value" targets in that
country.
But he said he won't send U.S. ground troops into Pakistan.
"No," Obama said. "Our plan does not change the recognition of
Pakistan as a sovereign government. We need to work with them and
through them to deal with al Qaeda."
The president is adding 4,000 military trainers to the
already-authorized troop increase of 17,000 in Afghanistan.
On Iraq, Obama said although country is moving in the right
direction, he won't hasten the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
"No, I think the plan that we put forward in Iraq is the right
one, which is, let's have a very gradual withdrawal schedule
through the national elections in Iraq," he said. "There's still
work to be done on the political side to resolve differences
between the various sectarian groups around issues like oil, around
issues like provincial elections."
-By Henry J. Pulizzi, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256;
henry.pulizzi@dowjones.com