WASHINGTON - Congressman Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) called on President Bush today to spend some time in his district and address the concerns of working families as he passes through Flint during a trip to Auburn Hills, Michigan, next Monday, February 20. Kildee joined Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow in writing to Bush asking him to tour manufacturing plants that are slated to close and workers who are about to be laid off, and to hear what actions the Administration is taking to save their jobs. Bush will fly into Flint’s Bishop International Airport on President’s Day before traveling by car to Auburn Hills for a political event. Bush is not scheduled to spend any time in Flint meeting with 5th District voters.
“The President’s flight into Bishop Airport would be a great time for him to take me up on my offer to explain his economic policies to Delphi workers in my district whose jobs are at risk,” said Kildee, in reference to his November 4, 2005, letter to the White House. “President Bush said during his State of the Union Address that ‘[w]ith…a level playing field, no one can out-produce or out-compete the American worker.’ There are 13,000 Delphi workers in my district whose jobs, pensions, health care, and economic future are all at risk because of this Administration’s economic and trade policies that do more to tilt the playing field across our borders rather than making them level. They would like some clarification of the President’s statement.”
Kildee wrote to Bush last November, asking him to explain his economic policies to Delphi workers in the 5th District whose jobs and livelihood are in jeopardy due to the auto supplier’s bankruptcy announcement last October. The White House never responded to Kildee’s letter. Bush has also ignored multiple requests from national and state lawmakers to convene an auto manufacturing summit to discuss the future of the industry.
In his State of the Union Address on January 31, Bush made no mention of the economic crisis facing America’s manufacturing sector, one that has lost 2.8 million jobs since 2001. He also made no mention of the critical issues facing auto manufacturers and workers, such as legacy costs, pensions, catastrophic health care costs, and unfair trade policies that benefit foreign competition at the expense of domestic producers. Meanwhile, the Bush administration heavily lobbied for the passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement to export more jobs to the rest of the world and is now focusing on a similar agreement between the U.S. and Thailand which would allow light trucks to come into America tariff-free, putting the domestic auto industry at greater risk.
