ALEXANDRIA, VA - The American Conservative Union, ACU, today praised the Republican Members of Congress who had the courage and strength to send a letter to President Bush opposing his efforts to unilaterally give troubled auto makers a taxpayer funded bailout.

ACU Chairman David Keene said, "We join these Members of Congress in hoping these American companies can survive and eventually thrive.  However, a taxpayer funded bailout is not the answer.  They have been consistently losing market share to other manufacturers who assemble vehicles and employ people right here in the U.S."

The letter sent yesterday to the President was signed by 26 Republican Members of Congress urging the President not to use the TARP program to bail out the Detroit three.  The letter correctly stated a Chapter 11 reorganization would allow the auto makers to use laws already on the books to make reforms necessary to become competitive in the future.  It also noted that American taxpayers cannot afford to save every failing company.

"The American people do not want their tax money spent on failing businesses who were failing long before our nation entered economic uncertainty.  As we have repeatedly said, the Detroit based auto makers entered into labor contracts that were unworkable the moment they were signed," said Dennis Whitfield, Executive Vice President of ACU and a former Deputy Secretary of Labor in the Reagan administration.

ACU Director of Government Relations Larry Hart sent a letter to Congress urging that the proposed taxpayer funded bailout be rejected.