White House says taxpayers will get back ‘some’ of auto bailout

While the White House won’t guarantee that General Motors and Chrysler Group LLC will repay the full $62 billion they received in government bailouts, it said today that taxpayers will at least get “some” of the money back. The Government Accountability Report released Monday said that automakers are “unlikely” to repay all of the government loans.

“I think the American people will see some of that money returned,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters but declined to say give specifics. “I’m not the car czar.”

Former car czar Steve Rattner said that taxpayers have lost roughly $25 billion on their investment in GM, and there’s no hope of getting the first $4 billion loaned to Chrysler.

The GAO cited the U.S. Treasury Department’s internal analyses that GM and Chrysler’s market capitalizations, when they offer an IPO, are unlikely to be enough to be repaid.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Detroit News