Obama Poised to Highlight Auto Industry Improvements in Michigan

(NewsCore) - The Obama administration stood by its $60 billion investment to rescue the automobile industry Thursday, calling it “a decision that has since resulted in a restructured and turned-around” industry.

On the eve of President Barack Obama’s trip to visit midwest automobile plants, Ron Bloom, Senior Advisor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy, and Ed Montgomery, Executive Director of the White House Council on Auto Communities and Workers, appeared with Gibbs during the White House press briefing to stress that the President’s involvement helped the entire “incredibly interdependent” industry.

Bloom touted the administration’s efforts in the automotive industry, noting that General Motors returned to a profit this year and may become public again, which would help funnel more money back to the taxpayers.

Both spoke of the importance of the auto industry as a sense of community, with generations of workers relying on the jobs it provides.

“The president recognized that not only were the companies in trouble, but the communities who relied on this industry were going through distress as well,” Montgomery said, which led to the creation of the White House Council on Auto Communities and Workers.

“We spent the past year both going out and listening to these communities and then trying to make sure that the resources of the federal government were deployed to help them,” he continued.

The president will travel to Detroit Friday and visit the Jefferson North Plant, responsible for the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the General Motors plant in Hamtramck that is working on the new battery-charged Chevrolet Volt.