Senate Republicans “unveiled a bill Thursday that would distribute the government’s stakes in General Motors and Chrysler to taxpayers,” The Hill reports. This is the measure I told you about earlier this week. It’s called the Auto Stock for Every Taxpayer Act.
It would “give the government’s 60 percent share in GM and 8 percent share in Chrysler to the approximately 120 million Americans who filed tax returns in April.”
“Giving the stock to the taxpayers who actually paid for it is the only way to get government out of the companies’ hair and giving them a chance to succeed,” said Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.).
The bill calls for the mailing of stock certificates to taxpayers within a year of the companies’ emergence from bankruptcy.
Alexander said the measure is aimed at avoiding long-term federal ownership of the car companies, which would result in decisions in neither taxpayers’ nor the companies’ interest.
This legislation could “come up for a floor vote next week in the form of an amendment to Democratic-backed legislation, according to a Senate GOP aide.” It’s been added as an amendment to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (H.R. 1256).
It’s being promoted by Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Bob Bennett (R-UT) and Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ).
According to the article, it would also “subject the Obama administration to corporate laws and shareholder lawsuits faced by executives of other companies.”
Bennett said that giving the fiduciary responsibility of the companies to the Treasury Department, which will oversee the bankruptcies, will spur the government to return ownership of the companies to the marketplace sooner.
“We’re giving the secretary of Treasury the same kind of fiduciary responsibility, and therefore exposure, that any officer or director would have,” Bennett said.
Finally, the measure would prohibit the “government from using any more bailout funds for the car companies.”
Congress in Your Pocket
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