(WASHINGTON)-House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) today released the following statement on news that the Obama Administration had closed the outstanding bailout loan to Chrysler at a $1.3 billion loss to taxpayers:
“I am deeply disturbed to learn that the Obama Administration left $1.3 billion taxpayer dollars on the table in resolving its bailout of Chrysler. The Administration has sold out an American icon to a foreign company using TARP funds underwritten by taxpayers. Now they are essentially giving that same company $1.3 billion of taxpayer money.
“This deal gives Fiat another channel for Italian-made cars to be sold and will let them receive a reliable revenue stream from American consumers for years to come, all with little or no money invested in the deal in the first place.
“At a time when American taxpayers must make tough choices to repay their mortgages-even on houses worth less than they paid-it is unfathomable that Italian automaker Fiat and its subsidiary Chrysler got away with repaying less than the full amount borrowed from the U.S. government."
