Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has quietly become one of the Detroit auto industry's best friends, with one eye on the thousands of auto jobs in her home state of New York and the other on the 2008 presidential election.10% of jobs in America? Can Hillary count?
"I am a passionate believer that we've got to enable our three automakers to survive. Some people are flippant about that. It's 1 in every 10 jobs in America," Clinton said in a speech Tuesday in Washington.
Clinton, considered by many to be a 2008 Democratic presidential favorite if she runs, called for a series of tax breaks that would boost the industry -- and a government mandate that the oil industry install alternative fuel pumps at half of the gas stations they directly own.
She also declined to support calls to immediately hike fuel economy requirements -- a proposal opposed by the Big Three and the United Auto Workers.
"We need to be sure that our high standards don't provide an easy excuse for more auto jobs to leave the U.S," she said.
"We can't separate, however, the challenge of making auto manufacturing more energy-efficient and the challenge of making U.S. manufacturing more competitive."
Friday, May 26, 2006
Hillary Clinton Loves Detriot
The Detriot News reports:
