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Dear Ed:
We deeply appreciate the role President Obama gave to you when he designated you as “a new Director of Recovery for Auto Communities and Workers to cut through red tape and ensure that the full resources of our federal government are leveraged to assist the workers, communities, and regions that rely on our auto industry.” Since the President indicated that you would “direct a comprehensive effort that will help lift up the hardest hit areas…,” we wanted to share with you those areas that we feel are of immediate importance to our state. We will stay in touch with you about future opportunities, and each of us individually may be in touch with you about local initiatives that warrant your active support.
Michigan is undergoing an economic transformation never before seen in our lifetimes. This is underscored by the uncertainty of the Chapter 11 proceedings of Chrysler and the revised viability plan of General Motors that envisions a dramatic acceleration of restructuring that will have an immediate and painful impact on Michigan and underscores the urgency of our challenge. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provisions expanding unemployment insurance, health care, training, weatherization and education are important first steps for individuals and their families.
We do believe that you, in your unique role as a member of the Auto Task Force and at the Department of Labor, must play an important role in drawing attention to the difficulties experienced throughout the auto sector and the auto communities.
In addition to the work underway for Chrysler-Fiat and General Motors, we ask that you focus on the issues described more fully in the attachment regarding auto suppliers, auto dealers, and auto sales. We also urge that you join us in advocating for a full Federal partnership on the technologies vital to ensure the production of the cars of the future in the U.S.
Our communities are working tirelessly to stabilize local neighborhoods, re-develop automotive facilities and diversify their local economies. It is essential that the Recovery Act fully and across a wide spectrum of programs support their efforts during these difficult times.
We have described in the attachment the specific actions that we believe you can take immediately to provide assistance to Michigan communities. We will be in further touch collectively on additional state-wide initiatives and individually on local and regional ones as well.
Finally, and importantly, we look forward to actively discussing with you the responsibility the President gave to you to “lead an effort to identify new initiatives we may need to help support [your] communities going forward.” This is very important in the effort of our State to attract new businesses, to assist existing businesses in diversification, and to address more broadly community economic re-development.
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