WASHINGTON (AP) -- The mayor of Lansing, Michigan, says the government must step in and save the troubled auto industry because it is indispensable to America's national security.
As leaders of the Big Three automakers made a new attempt Tuesday to persuade Washington to approve financial aid, Mayor Virg Bernero (burn-'AIR-oh) argued that if the companies are allowed to "fall by the wayside," the country would have to rely on other nations like China, Japan and South Korea to make guns and tanks someday in some new war scenario.
Bernero said, "We were the arsenal of democracy in World War I." He said industry executives are "certainly very hopeful" that they'll get a better reception this time around in Congress. He also said the companies do not oppose "some conditions and some strings" to any such loan package.
Bernero was interviewed on CBS's "The Early Show."
