‘HUGE VICTORY FOR OUR MEMBERS’
Congress approves $25B loan for automakers
It was just five years ago – with gas at $1.50 a gallon – when the UAW championed a Marshall Plan for the U.S. auto industry to address long-range concerns about fuel economy and energy security by centering on a retooling effort targeting incentives for the manufacture of advanced technology vehicles and their key components here in the United States.
Persistence on all sides paid off.
Now the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program (ATMVIP) approved by Congress in September will help to ensure vehicles of the future are produced in the United States, said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.
The program was proposed as a plan to reinvest in the U.S. auto industry after a 2004 University of Michigan study showed that support for building more fuel-efficient vehicles in the United States would create tens of thousands of jobs and largely pay for itself.
"It's a huge victory for our members, for U.S. manufacturing companies and for American consumers," Gettelfinger said of the program, which authorizes $25 billion in low-interest loans for manufacturers that build advanced technology vehicles and their key components in the United States. "This is a smart investment that will speed the introduction of more fuel-efficient vehicles and also create tens of thousands of good-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs."
The loan program was created as part of the 2007 energy bill passed by Congress, which increased fuel efficiency standards 40 percent by 2020, but was not funded by Congress. On Sept. 24 the House of Representatives appropriated funds for the program; the Senate followed suit three days later.
When President Bush signed the landmark $634 billion spending package Oct. 1, he didn’t mention the $25 billion auto loan program, which will allow automakers to borrow money to retool plants to build advanced technology vehicles that are at least 25 percent more fuel efficient than currently required.
Gettelfinger said Michigan Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, along with Rep. John Dingell, played a key role in moving the legislation through Congress, with strong support from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Obama’s strong record of support for American manufacturing, said Gettelfinger, is a sharp contrast with the dismal performance of the Bush administration.
Bush’s Department of Energy said it might take up to 18 months to put regulations in place before loans are available to automakers and parts suppliers.
"There is absolutely no reason to delay this vital program, and it shows why America needs a change in direction," said Gettelfinger. "This administration knows how to move fast when it wants to; it’s a disgrace that they can't be bothered to take decisive action to help American workers and American companies."
