On the eve of Detroit’s day of reckoning with the United States government, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, said that the future of the auto industry was up to him, the CEOs of Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Company and General Motors would be fired.
“If I had my way, all three of those guys would be in the unemployment line and I think that ought to be one of the conditions for us doing this,” Clyburn told reporters at a press conference earlier today. “They need to be giving up their jobs, not just their packages.”
“We need to have new leadership. That’s what we would do if we had this kind of failure on a football field. We would be getting a new coach — sometimes a new athletic director,” he said. “We need to clean house with these guys and bring in new people.”
Clyburn will be responsible for actually rounding up the votes needed for an automaker rescue plan. He has stated that he wants the $25 billion the automakers are requesting to come from the $700 billion previously set aside to help out Wall Street and banks.
All three CEOs – Chrysler ’s Bob Nardelli, Ford ’s Alan Mulally and GM’s Rick Wagoner – met today in Detroit to finalize the plan they will present to Congress beginning tomorrow.
