House Concurrent Resolution 13

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO TAKE INTERVENING ACTION AND SECURE THE VIABILITY OF THE UNITED STATES AUTO INDUSTRY.

WHEREAS, it is in the best interests of our national homeland security to have a strong and vibrant manufacturing and industrial sector, capable of producing the necessary machinery and technology to defend the citizens of the United States and protect our interests abroad, but sadly our manufacturing and industrial sector has been experiencing a dramatic reduction in capacity and production over the last several decades; and

WHEREAS, government has an obligation to promote economic activity through the creation of new capital investment, which will result in the expansion of employment opportunities and help jumpstart long-term capital investment by private investors; and

WHEREAS, as government leaders, we must ensure the continued viability of our automotive and machine tool industries, which create the bedrock of America's economy, and the loss of these vital economic anchors would be a disaster with incalculable chain-reaction consequences for our nation and the world; and

WHEREAS, on June 7, 2005, General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner announced plans to reduce GM's manufacturing employment levels in the United States by 25,000 or more people in the 2005 to 2008 period; and

WHEREAS, the United States' automobile industry has $475 billion dollars of collective debt and its bond rating has been recently lowered, thus making filing for bankruptcy by the leading automobile manufacturers a very real possibility; and

WHEREAS, it is conceivable that the automobile industry's leading manufacturers could close most, if not all its factories in the United States, which would cause a chain reaction of damage and devastate local suppliers such as the Wentzville GM facility; and

WHEREAS, certain stop-gap measures and long-term actions should be adopted and implemented by Congress to forestall threats to our economy from the problems associated with the automotive and machine tool sectors of our economy; and

WHEREAS, one of the key options is federal capital investment in diversification of the productive potential of the automotive and machine tool industries into a broader mixture of production, shifting the nation into the domain of essential capital goods and economic infrastructure, such as the repair, expansion, and improvement of our national railway systems; maintenance and improvement of water management systems; and the development of other urgently needed infrastructure projects; and

WHEREAS, the result of this national shift will be to save existing manufacturing jobs and create new larger areas of employment in infrastructure and manufacturing for our citizenry in a manner comparable to the best of the New Deal programs that rescued the nation and the world from the ravages of the Great Depression; and

WHEREAS, an increasing number and variety of relevant specialists are warning that the collapse of the national economy could occur if certain stop-gap and long-term actions are not adopted and implemented to forestall the threats to our economy from the problems associated with the automotive and machine tool sectors of our economy; and

WHEREAS, the loss of the physical capabilities of the automotive industry, especially its machine tool sector, could mean the end of America's leadership as a world economic power:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE SENATE CONCURRING THEREIN, That we hereby urge the United States Congress to intervene in the United States automobile industry's current financial crisis so that we may ensure the continued viability of our automotive and machine tool industries.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the members of the Mississippi Congressional Delegation and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.