GOP leaders renew attacks on White House over auto industry rescue

[TomCADem]

Source: Detroit Free Press

WASHINGTON – A day after the Obama administration hailed progress in the government-sponsored turnarounds of General Motors and Chrysler, congressional Republicans leveled fresh political criticism today at the administration’s aid to the industry.

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Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., accused the White House of strong-arming automakers last year into backing fuel economy standards of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 in return for keeping GM and Chrysler from collapsing in bankruptcy.


Issa asked the CEOs of nine automakers -- GM, Chrysler, Ford and the U.S. arms of Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, Nissan, Suzuki and Honda – to turn over a bevy of documents about the talks with the White House and California officials that led to the agreement last May. The rules went into effect last month.


“It is unclear whether the Administration used leverage created by the possibility of a taxpayer bailout of GM and Chrysler to secure their cooperation and support for new fuel economy standards,” Issa said in the letter.



Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20100422/BUSINESS01/100422054/1318/GOP-renews-attacks-over-auto-loans

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A winning strategy in November. Argue that Democrats should have let the American auto industry implode.