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Today was a good news day for the auto industry. Ford was awarded $9.5 billion in loans to retool 11 facilities so they can produce the next generation of vehicles. I look forward to seeing additional investments financed through this Department of energy program, including those at GM, Chrysler, and the companies of the automotive supply base. And, I have introduced legislation to double the funding this program because even in this first batch of applications demand far outpaced resources.
In addition, the President made it official today and issued an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Auto Communities and Workers. The Director of the National Economic Council, Larry Summers and the Secretary of the Department of Labor, Hilda Solis will chair the Council. Dr. Ed Montgomery, who has visited Michigan numerous times on Recovery Act, will be the executive director.
Finally, while it will take more time to make the program fully operational, the Fleet Modernization voucher program to spur car sales has its own website…www.cars.gov
All of this compliments the work that the domestic auto industry is doing on its own, as evidenced by findings released just today from J.D. Power and Associates that the Big 3 are outpacing the industry as a whole in quality improvement. There is much more to be done, but developments over the past couple days show we are moving in the right direction.
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