By Sholnn Freeman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 19, 2006; D02
Leaders of Detroit's Big Three automakers came together on Capitol Hill yesterday in an uncharacteristic display of unity to build support for ethanol fuel and to rally legislators behind the financially strapped industry.
The U.S. automakers have had difficulty getting their message across in Washington in the past year as their profits have sunk and they have come under increasing assault in their home market by rivals from Japan, South Korea and Europe.
In a day-long series of meetings, the auto executives met with House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.); House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.); and Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), a key supporter of the industry. In the Senate, they met with Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and a number of Democratic senators, including Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, and Debbie Stabenow and Carl M. Levin of Michigan.
The automakers had been scheduled to meet with President Bush this week, but he postponed the gathering until June 2. Officials at the auto companies said yesterday that the June 2 meeting has also been postponed.
At the end of the day yesterday, the executives said they would join a coalition of other business and political leaders dedicated to providing 25 percent of U.S. energy needs from renewable sources by 2025.
General Motors Corp. Chairman Rick Wagoner said the nation was undergoing a historic shift in energy consumption, adding that greater use of ethanol was "the best opportunity right now" to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil. "We need to pursue all options," he said. Ford Motor Co. Chairman William C. Ford called ethanol a "game-changer" for the industry.
By the end of the year, the three auto companies say, they will have 6 million vehicles on the road capable of using a corn-based fuel called E85. But drivers have virtually no place to get the fuel. Of the 180,000 service stations nationwide, about 600 sell the ethanol blend. The U.S. auto companies have been battered by rising gasoline prices in the past year. Profits at GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG, which owns Chrysler, are heavily dependent on sales of large pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles.
Ford, Wagoner and Chrysler chief executive Thomas W. LaSorda repeatedly said they did not come to Washington for handouts and said there was no talk in the meetings of a government bailout for the industry. Congressional staff members said the automakers also brought up the need to reform the nation's pension system. Lawmakers expressed some support for the industry. Reid said lawmakers would work with the companies to "bring back the American automobile industry where we think it should be."
Detroit has a big agenda in Washington, and it has long sought a more proactive role for the government. Among the automakers' concerns are the escalating cost of providing health care and pensions for hundreds of thousands of workers and retirees. The companies have also asked for subsidies for research and development and more tax credits to prop up demand for alternative-fuel vehicles.
Japanese automakers now lead in the development of gas-electric hybrid technology. The U.S. companies also have complained that they have limited access to foreign markets and have accused China and Japan of manipulating their currencies for trade advantage.
David E. Cole of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor said the automakers were trying to build a consensus message. "Individually, they tend to talk about different things at different times, and that really has not been very helpful," Cole said.
Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said lawmakers tend to minimize the importance of the Detroit automakers, which still hold 60 percent of the U.S. market.
"It is rather remarkable that this is even necessary," he said of yesterday's meetings. "In the mid-'50s, you would almost have the Congress go to Detroit, versus the Big Three executives come to Washington. There would have been no need to remind anybody about how central the American auto industry was."