MSNBC Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC Interview - Transcript

MSNBC NEWS INTERVIEW WITH REP. GARY PETERS (D-MI)

SUBJECT: WHAT HAS TO HAPPEN TO HELP THE TROUBLED AUTO INDUSTRY

INTERVIEWER: MONICA NOVOTNY

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MS. NOVOTNY: And we're joined by Congressman Gary Peters, Democrat from Michigan.

Congressman, thanks for joining us. Let me tell you, I know you, I love your state, and there is a lot of outrage there. I'm looking at a headline that says, "Workers Say Obama Treated Autos Worse Than Wall Street." Talk to us a little bit about the anger and perhaps the other parts of this country who don't get what's happening there.

REP. PETERS: Well, I think, though, the core of that is that there seems to be a double standard right now, where people in Detroit and auto workers certainly have some very strict accountability standards to meet; and yet what you see on Wall Street is that there is an incredible amount of money going there, billions and billions of dollars, without the same kind of accountability.

So we right now are going to rise to that challenge. We've got some significant challenges ahead of us. Right now, probably the biggest challenge is getting bondholders and creditors to renegotiate their debt with the auto companies, have some debt-to-equity slots. And quite frankly, some of the banks that are standing in the way are the banks that are the biggest beneficiaries of taxpayer money -- huge TARP payments to these banks; and yet they're unwilling to work with auto companies to keep hundreds of thousands of workers employed in this country.

MS. NOVOTNY: Congressman, can I get you to answer in a "Yes" or "No"? Was the president unfair to the auto industry?

REP. PETERS: I think he needs to -- what we need to have is equal accountability in the banking industry as well. We're okay with accountability in Detroit, but there needs to be equal accountability with Wall Street firms as well.

MS. NOVOTNY: So is that a "Yes," that he treated the auto industry unfairly in what we heard in his plan?

REP. PETERS: It certainly -- it is a tougher -- it's a tougher approach than what we have on Wall Street. There's no question about that.

MS. NOVOTNY: Now, just this morning I saw Governor Mitt Romney, whose father, of course, ran American Motors Corporation. He has said all along that bankruptcy was the way to go. He says today that this should have happened months ago. As we look ahead, do you believe that bankruptcy is in the future for GM?

REP. PETERS: We've got to try everything we can not to do that. I don't think folks understand the complexity of the auto industry, the intricate web of suppliers, hundreds of thousands of jobs, thousands of suppliers. When you have a bankruptcy at a major firm like General Motors or Chrysler, that trickles throughout the whole system. I'm not confident the bankruptcy code is able to do that. We've got to fight to keep these companies viable and out of bankruptcy.

MS. NOVOTNY: Well, how do you do that? How do you move this ahead to avoid bankruptcy in 60 days here?

REP. PETERS: As I said, the biggest reason -- or the biggest thing right now is to get creditors to the table, get the bondholders and the creditors to the table to negotiate to bring down those debt levels. They need to do that. I hope the president uses his office, in the next 30 days in Chrysler's case, to sit down with these banks -- the banks that are large TARP beneficiaries; huge amounts of taxpayer money into these banks. They've got to understand that that money was not about them; it's about the American economy.

MS. NOVOTNY: But you know, there are -- there are people, though, who are wondering, and obviously they're concerned about those workers that you point out and the devastation that this could cause to places like Lansing and other small towns in Michigan.

REP. PETERS: Right.

MS. NOVOTNY: But I've got to ask you, what is different this time around? We know that the options have been looked at. They've been exhausted in many cases. How do you change it in 60 days? How do you get those creditors to come around?

REP. PETERS: Well, they have to understand that they're going to do very poorly in bankruptcy. I don't know if they understand what is involved here. They've been playing a little bit a game of chicken, thinking that they don't need to negotiate. That game is over. The hammer is going to be coming down in 30 days in Chrysler's case, 60 days in GM's case. They've got to come to the table.

I certainly hope the president reaches out to them and forces them to that table as well, so that they understand that it'll be catastrophic if they wait -- in their case, if they wait. They need to come to the table, do those debt-to-equity exchanges, understand this is serious business and the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are at stake here. They need to come to that table.

I don't think they've done that yet. We've seen the UAW has stepped forward with concessions, but they're also waiting for these bondholders. And these creditors -- again, the creditors who have been getting substantial taxpayer money -- are unwilling to do this, and I think it's outrageous.

MS. NOVOTNY: All right. All right, Congressman Gary Peters, thank you so much for joining us this early morning.

REP. PETERS: Thank you.

END.

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