Issa blasts Treasury’s exit from Chrysler

{mosads}”The administration has sold out an American icon to a foreign company using TARP funds underwritten by taxpayers,” he said in a statement. “Now they are essentially giving that same company $1.3 billion of taxpayer money.

“At a time when American taxpayers must make tough choices to repay their mortgages — even on houses worth less than they paid — it is unfathomable that Italian automaker Fiat and its subsidiary Chrysler got away with repaying less than the full amount borrowed from the U.S. government,” he added.

Although the government only expects to recoup $11.2 billion of the Chrysler bailout, the Treasury touted the speed at which the government exited the rescue effort, which officials said saved a large number of American jobs.

“With today’s closing, the US government has exited its investment in Chrysler at least six years earlier than expected,” said the Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial stability, Tim Massad. “This is a major accomplishment and further evidence of the success of the Administration’s actions to assist the US auto industry, which helped save a million jobs during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”