President Obama on Stabilizing the Auto Industry from White House on Vimeo.
March 30, 2009
Grand Foyer
11:07 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody.
One of the challenges we’ve confronted from the beginning of this administration is what to do with the state of the struggling auto industry. In recent months, my Auto Task Force has been reviewing requests by General Motors and Chrysler for additional government assistance, as well as plans developed by each of these companies to restructure, to modernize, and to make themselves more competitive. Our evaluation is now complete. But before I lay out what needs to be done going forward, I want to say a few words about where we are and what led us to this point.
It will come as no surprise that some Americans who have suffered most during this recession have been those in the auto industry and those working for companies that support it. Over the past year, our auto industry has shed over 400,000 jobs, not only at plants that produce cars, but at the businesses that produce the parts that go into them and the dealers that sell and repair them. More than one in 10 Michigan residents is out of work — the most of any state. And towns and cities across the great Midwest have watched unemployment climb higher than it’s been in decades.
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