Automakers To Testify Before Congress Thursday

December 4, 2008 8:27 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The top executives of the nation's three largest automakers are set to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, two days after they submitted to Congress restructuring plans that asked for a total $34 billion in aid.

Chrysler chairman and chief executive officer Robert Nardelli, Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally, and General Motors chairman and CEO Richard Wagoner will testify during a hearing scheduled to begin at 10:00 am ET. They will be joined by United Automobile Workers (UAW) president Ron Gettelfinger and Moody's Economy.com chief economist and cofounder Mark Zandi. The panel's chair is Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT).

The industry officials will also testify on Friday during a 9:30 am ET hearing before House Financial Services Committee chair Barney Frank (D-MA). The Big Three CEOs all testified before Frank and Dodd's committees two weeks ago to ask for aid. But they were later criticized for having reportedly taken private jets to Washington.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said in a press briefing on Wednesday the administration wants to hear the automakers' testimonies before taking a stance on their restructuring proposals.

"We just got the summaries of those plans yesterday, and officials here are poring over them, as they are at the Treasury Department and the Commerce Department... Secretaries Gutierrez and Bodman sent a letter last week to Congress that outlined our position on viability. That is the linchpin of where our support would lie... So we're going to be paying very close attention to the testimony that will take place Thursday and Friday up on Capitol Hill from the automakers, and then hopefully we'll have more to say after that," she said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had sent a letter to top executives of the Big Three on Nov. 21 asking them to submit a proposal on why the government should give them a loan. The automakers have to submit the plan to both Frank and Senate Banking Committee chair Christopher Dodd (D-CT).

The plan must "provide a forthright, documented assessment of the auto companies' current operating cash position, short-term liquidity needs to continue operations as a going-concern, and how they will meet the financing needs associated with the plan to ensure the companies' long-term viability as they retool for the future," Pelosi and Reid said in their letter.

Last week, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez sent a letter to both Frank and Dodd saying that the plan "should address the factors that drive overall competitiveness."