White House holding fast on proposed auto bailout

The White House signaled Tuesday that it is not willing to bend on its stance that troubled automakers should only be entitled to $25 billion in already approved loans, and that if any other assistance is to be forthcoming then the companies will have to prove viability for the future.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said it was premature to comment on the plans the automotive companies are planning to put forth to Congress later this week, but she said the administration is “sticking to our guns” that companies have to prove they can survive before they can get access to taxpayer dollars.

{mosads}When the automakers came before Congress to plead for assistance last month, the White House and Senate Republicans agreed on a plan that would have accelerated $25 billion in loans through the Department of Energy that have already been approved. The talks broke down as Democrats first insisted on giving the companies another $25 billion from the economic rescue package before insisting that the automakers return to Washington with detailed plans that will demonstrate how they will be viable in the future.

Perino took issue with the notion that the White House is “stuck on” the $25 billion in loans, but she cautioned that the administration will evaluate the plans the automakers bring back to Washington.

“I think $25 billion is quite generous, and not necessarily something that I would consider to be ‘stuck on’ anything,” Perino said. “But we would like — but we are sticking to our guns that the companies have to prove that they are viable before the taxpayer dollars should be given to them. So I think we just need to see what they — how they proceed. The companies have continued to be OK. I realize that they say that they’re teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. We’ve said that we wanted to support them, and we’ve provided what we think is a bipartisan way to do that.”

Perino could not say whether administration officials had yet seen the summaries of the companies’ plans, but she did say the administration was pleased that Democrats had joined them in insisting on proof of viability.

“We have said that we want to provide help for the auto industry. We thought that we had provided a bipartisan way forward to be able to do that,” Perino said. “It is refreshing for us to see Democrats finally coming forward and accepting that companies need to prove that they are viable in order to get taxpayer dollars. But we’ll have to see what these plans are. And we’ll have to see what the Congress decides to do, as well. I think there’s — it’s a little bit premature here on a Tuesday. We need to wait and see what the plans are, and then they have to testify Thursday and Friday.”