LANSING – Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, stepping up her criticism of the response by President Bush to requests to help the auto industry, said Friday she hopes to bring pressure on the federal government with the combined efforts of governors of other manufacturing states.
The governor told reporters she was astonished at the remarks by Bush on Thursday telling automakers the solution to their falling sales is to make products that are relevant and rejecting the notion of a federal bailout.
“We’re not asking for a bailout,” she said. “We’re asking for specific solutions on trade, on pensions and on health care.”
The governor noted various proposals are pending in Congress, such as a federal plan for catastrophic health care coverage, and again pressed the case for more aggressive federal enforcement of trade agreements. She also said Washington was able to offer the oil industry “billions” in tax incentives while not aiding manufacturers.
“It’s unacceptable for the president to turn a blind eye,” she said of the automakers problems.
Bush, who said automakers have not sought a meeting with him regarding federal aid, said in a Wall Street Journal interview domestic car companies must compete in a world where other companies are able to deal with costs in a different way and that they must have a “product that is relevant.”
Earlier, when speaking to workers at a General Motors plant under construction near Lansing, she said Ontario did not pass Michigan as the top manufacturer of automobiles because of lower taxes or wages, but because of Canada’s national health care program.
Granholm has pushed for federal action on at least three other occasions, with a manufacturing summit with other governors in 2004, a meeting last fall with the state’s Congressional delegation and a follow-up letter to Mr. Bush in December asking him to convene a national manufacturing summit. She said there has been no response to the request.
Granholm said her next step is to convene the other manufacturing governors at the winter meeting of the National Governor’s Association. Granholm said she had not talked to former Republican Governor John Engler, who is now president of the National Association of Manufacturers, but hoped he would “be on the same page” on the issues she is raising.
Republican Party spokesperson Nate Bailey, who said too much attention is being paid to one statement when the president’s message was consistent with most economic analysts, said the governor could get a better response if she spent less time criticizing and more time offering her own ideas. The federal government, he noted, enacted tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 and Bush has proposed health savings accounts that Democrats are blocking.
“We need a bold, big-thinking strategy,” he said of what is needed at the state level. “It’s a falsehood to claim there’s disinterest in Washington to take action to help manufacturers. We have a Michigan problem with a Michigan governor who is idealess and solutionless.”
Also Friday, Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) and House Speaker Craig DeRoche (R-Novi) urged the governor sign the small business tax relief bills now resting on her desk to send a signal to the business community she is willing to change the state’s economic climate. The governor has said she will veto the bills because they are not revenue-neutral.
Administration officials note Granholm signed single business tax cuts last year and would be better able to sign the new tax cuts if the Legislature lived up to its promise last year to close $100 million in tax loopholes.
This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com
