Dodd, crafting $15B bailout, says GM head must go

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said that Rick Wagoner should step down as chief executive of General Motors as part of any government-supported restructuring process.

“I think he has to move on,” Dodd said on CBS’s “Face the Nation”.

Dodd has been working over the weekend to craft a roughly $15 billion
auto bailout package that would carry the Big Three through March of next year. The automakers requested $34 billion from Congress last week.

{mosads}Dodd said the smaller, short-term package would give lawmakers more time to consider a government oversight board or an administrative process to oversee the restructuring of the industry.

“There is a lot of reason to be furious,” Dodd said about the industry and its pleas for federal aid. “But there is a lot more at stake than just Detroit. If this were just about Detroit, I’d let them fail in a New York minute.” 

Lawmakers have repeatedly voiced frustration with the executives of the auto companies, who were ripped for flying to Capitol Hill on private jets several weeks ago when they made their first pleas for a bailout.

GM is desperate for cash, and may run out of money in a matter of weeks barring government help.