Auto Execs Meet with Congress

Republican and Democratic leaders from the House of Representatives and Senate expressed support for helping executives from General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group with their agenda.

The executives arrived in vehicles powered by ethanol and decorated with images of corn stalks. The three executives said they had produced five million vehicles capable of running on ethanol blends and planned to bring an additional one million to the market this year. The executives endorsed a plan to have renewable fuels meet 25% of the nation's transportation energy needs by 2025.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said in a brief statement that government and U.S.-based manufacturers can "work together" to put people in more fuel efficient vehicles.

Ford and GM have launched restructurings that would cut a combined 60,000 jobs and close more than two dozen plants by 2012 to recover losses from a reduced market share to foreign competitors. GM is also stockpiling parks in case auto supplier Delphi Corp. goes on strike.

At their meetings on Capitol Hill, the executives promoted wider development of pumping stations for flexible-fueled vehicles, including those that run on a combination of gasoline and ethanol.

The executives also discussed health care reform, efforts to overhaul pension legislation, and their claims that Japan has manipulated its currency lower for years to keep its exports cheap. About half of Japan's exports to the United States are in the automotive sector.