Tancredo, Salazar wary of auto industry bailout proposal

UPDATED 3:41 P.M. 11/17/2008

U.S. Reps. Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton) and John Salazar (D-Manassa) are skeptical about a $25 billion loan package for the Big Three Detroit automakers currently being pushed in Congress.

Tancredo will be voting against the proposal, said spokesman T.Q. Houlton.

"We're bailing out these large auto industry makers where basically they've run their companies really in a bad direction, and we shouldn't be holding the taxpayers responsible for that," Houlton said.

Salazar told the Grand Junction Sentinel that any auto industry bailout must include a series of conditions, including a commitment by the automakers to produce more energy-efficient vehicles.

 "I would certainly want to do a stimulus package, but one that does not just give money (away)," Salazar told the Sentinel.

General Motors has said that without government help, it will run out of money by the end of the year, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. If G.M. declares bankruptcy, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler will likely fall as well, according to the Chronicle.

Tancredo, who's leaving office in January after five terms in the U.S. House, was the only Republican from Colorado to vote for a $700 billion emergency bailout package in late September and early October. Salazar voted against that bailout package.

Houlton said Tancredo will remain in Washington, D.C. throughout the U.S. House's lame-duck session.