Dodd Calls for Firing GM’s Wagoner, Chrysler Merger
By Lorraine Woellert and Nadine Elsibai
Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Richard Wagoner should be replaced as a condition of federal aid and Chrysler LLC may have to merge to survive.
“You’ve got to consider new leadership,” Dodd said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Wagoner, he said, “has to move on.”
Asked if a change in leadership should be a condition of a bailout, Dodd who is helping to write the legislation, said, “I think it is going to have to be part of it.”
“Chrysler, is, I think, basically gone, probably ought to be merged,” Dodd said. Ford Motor Co. is the healthiest domestic automaker, he said.
Congress and the Bush administration are on the verge of completing a draft of legislation to provide about $15 billion to help GM, Ford and Chrysler.
President-elect Barack Obama, asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” whether the management of the automaker should be allowed to stay, said “it may not be the same for all the companies. But what I think we have to put an end to is the head- in-the-sand approach to the auto industry that has been prevalent for decades now.”
Willing to Leave
At least some GM board members would be willing to leave if it were a requirement of Congress for receiving aid, said a person familiar with GM board deliberations.
GM spokesman Steve Harris said he didn’t interpret Dodd’s comments as making Wagoner’s exit a condition of aid.
“GM management, our employees, dealers, everyone involved all feel like Rick is the right guy to lead us at this difficult time,’’ Harris said.
Harris also said he’s not aware of anyone asking Wagoner to leave, directly, as a condition of getting the aid.
House and Senate Democratic leaders have said they expect to bring the issue up for debate this week. The Senate is to reconvene tomorrow and the House returns to work Dec. 9.
Senate approval of the legislation remains in doubt, some lawmakers said.
Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Sessions said he has “doubts it will pass, but it’s a lot closer than it was,” when automakers were asking for $34 billion.
Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama said he supports a filibuster, a procedural tactic which stalls legislation to allow endless debate. Sixty votes are needed to end filibusters.
“I think we need to debate it and that’s what filibusters allow and this week would be a good time to do it,” Shelby said.
He called the auto bailout “a bridge loan to nowhere,” on the “Fox News Sunday” program today.
Dodd’s Warning
Dodd warned that a filibuster “may be the end” of efforts to aid automakers until the next session of Congress in January.
Michigan Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat who supports aid to the automakers, said on “Fox News Sunday” that he expects lawmakers to finish writing legislation in the next 24 hours to loan money to the automakers.
“Obviously that’s a much more complicated question as to whether the votes are there,” Levin said. “What I’m confident of is that the bill will be introduced.”
Dodd said that “the votes are there” for a carmaker bailout.
“Even if people don’t like this idea, none of us want to wake up Jan. 1 and discover we don’t have an industry to save,” Dodd said.
The chief executives of automakers testified at hearings this week that they need a combined $14 billion to keep operating through March 31.
“The last thing I want to see is the auto industry disappear,” Obama said. Still, he added that any loans or assistance must be tied to restructuring of the companies.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Washington at lwoellert@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: December 7, 2008 13:55 EST
bloomberg.com |
