Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-Sixth District, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, announced yesterday (Wednesday, Dec. 10) that she is opposed  to the  proposed $15-billion auto industry bailout.

Bachmann is supporting  an alternative to help the American automakers stabilize their industry while  they execute long-term restructuring and reorganization. 

<NEWS RELEASE>

Washington, D.C. -- Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-Sixth District, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, announced yesterday (Wednesday, Dec. 10) that she is opposed  to the  proposed $15-billion auto industry bailout.

She offered a statement on her position:
 
"Today Congress  is about to embark upon another corporate bailout - this time  for Detroit's Big Three automakers - without any assurances to the  taxpayers that it won't be back for more.  In fact, from all news  reports, while this bailout comes with a starting price of $15 billion,  Congressional leadership negotiating the deal fully expects that this is just  the beginning and that taxpayers will be hit up again in the new year.
 
"Though  the already-passed $700-billion Wall Street bailout has had little to no  success, Congress is about to go down this same road again.  And, it  appears that it does so with few qualms about the impact of its actions on hard-pressed taxpayers.
 
"We hear promises  of strict oversight and accountability measures - but who does the Congress think it's kidding?
 
"Already two  nonpartisan, independent panels have lambasted Treasury for its  execution of the current bailout scheme. The Government  Accountability Office's (GAO) scathing report about the federal  government's poor oversight says it all in the title: Additional Actions  Needed to Better Ensure Integrity, Accountability, and Transparency.
 
"Why should  taxpayers expect the government's oversight of this bailout be any  different?
 
"Unfortunately,  the Democrat-led Congress has chosen to blindly oblige Big Labor at every  turn, regardless of whether it's in the best interest of taxpayers.
 
"They have  dismissed consideration of alternative proposals that could truly restructure  these companies over the long-term and help them rein in costs.
 
"They don't want  Ford, GM and Chrysler to reorganize under the protection of the bankruptcy courts, even if it would save them without a taxpayer bailout, because it  means that they would actually make structural changes and renegotiate labor  contracts without the threat of outside lawsuits.
 
"The Democrats  have already spent more than a trillion dollars in bailouts this year - why  not a few billion more?
 
"Madame  Speaker, the hardworking men and women in America did not sign up for this.
 
"They did not  turn over their hard-earned money to Uncle Sam just so Congress can dole it  out to unaccountable companies that made poor business decisions for years.
 
"Throwing  taxpayer money at Detroit's  spiraling problems will not fix their long-term management and productivity  troubles and they will only be back for more time and time again.
 
"Congress should  not look the other way and put the taxpayers, and their children and grandchildren, on the hook for billions more in unaccountable  spending.”
 
Bachmann is supporting  an alternative to help the American automakers stabilize their industry while  they execute long-term restructuring and reorganization. 

That  alternative would set hard benchmarks for reducing their debt and  renegotiating money-pit deals with Big Labor and would set up the financial  assistance as interim insurance instead of a taxpayer-financed  bailout. 

Unlike the proposal Congressional leadership has brought  before Congress, which essentially nationalizes the auto industry, this alternative  would maintain an outlet for private investment in the American automakers.