Saving An Emblem Of The American Spirit

Floor Speech

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, President Obama has stated that America can not, must not and will not let our auto industry simply vanish. The industry is like no other, he said--``an emblem of the American spirit, a once and future symbol of America's success.'' I could not agree more with the President. We must do what we need to do to save this vital industry in the face of the Wall Street meltdown and virulent and often unfair foreign competition. No major industrial power has ever survived without a strong automobile industry.

First of all, auto production is essential for our domestic economic security. Automobiles built the middle class in America, and they made possible the greatest economic and continental expansion the world has ever seen.

Secondly, auto production is essential for our national defense. When President Obama talks about the future symbol of America's success, he is talking about my district, including Toledo, as well as Sandusky and Lorain, but also Cleveland and Youngstown and, of course, Detroit. Why? Because we have been sowing the seeds for the rebirth of the American automobile industry in these communities and especially in my hometown of Toledo--that is, until Wall Street hit us with a blunt mallet.

Mr. Speaker, Toledo is looking forward to a visit tomorrow by Dr. Ed Montgomery, the President's auto czar. He will visit Dayton as well as our hometown. In Toledo, we are going to tell him the story of automobiles and what they mean to America. We'll tell him how Toledo has been making cars for over 100 years, starting with an entrepreneur named John North Willys, who founded an auto company in Toledo that became Willys-Overland, later owned by Kaiser, then by Chrysler.

Willys-Overland is a perfect example of the importance of automobiles in America. Willys was the second largest carmaker in America from 1912 to 1918--only Ford was larger--and then it took off when it won a spirited national competition, which we should repeat, to build the rough-and-ready vehicle that General George C. Marshall wanted for U.S. troops in the war. That vehicle was the Jeep.

When President Obama talks about an emblem of the American spirit, he could have been talking about the Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, because nowhere else did the American spirit manifest itself more magnificently. When World War II started, the United States was caught flatfooted. When Hitler invaded Poland, the United States had the 16th largest army in the world, just ahead of Bulgaria. If not for our domestic automobile platform, America could not have mobilized its industrial might to turn back Adolf Hitler and save the world.

Toledo workers, my friends and family and, indeed, their parents answered our Nation's call and turned out hundreds of thousands of Jeeps during World War II. Men and women alike, they helped win the war, and they were proud of their contribution and deserved to be.

The goodwill alone associated with the Jeep brand name is still magic today around the world.

We'll tell Dr. Montgomery how the Toledo factory is today the most modern and efficient, indeed, the most innovative in the Chrysler family, how it's a model for flexible manufacturing production and labor management relations across this continent. We'll tell Dr. Montgomery that Toledo, Ohio, will be what President Obama calls ``the future system of America's success'' as the home, not only of Chrysler innovation and efficiency, but of General Motors' new green, six-speed transmission plant that won the Harbour & Associates' top ranking for productivity for 5 straight years and that it is poised to lead the way in America for the fuel-efficient and low-polluting vehicles of the future.

We'll tell Dr. Montgomery how the University of Toledo, through its clean and alternative energy incubator, is leading the way in research and development and in the commercialization of green power, including for vehicles, and how the University of Toledo Transportation Center is focusing on economic development through transportation, research and education.

Detroit will always be Motown and the Motor City, but the rebirth of the American automobile industry will happen in places like Toledo, where our legacy leads us to innovate, to create, to collaborate, and to meet the challenges of a new century and to build a new symbol of America's success. Frankly, it's time for a new national competition, for the rough-and-ready vehicles of the future. We know those will be built in Toledo, Ohio.

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