USA TODAY asked U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette (R-OH) to submit an op-ed to the paper about congressional efforts to help Chrysler and GM dealers, and the piece was published today. Here is the text: 

 What’s happened to auto dealers in every corner of the country is disgraceful and un-American.  Chrysler gave 789 of its dealers less than a month to pack up, and GM wants another 2,000 dealerships to vanish, with closings translating to 200,000 job losses.  

 The President’s unelected Auto Task Force, with zero experience in the auto industry, would like you to believe this happened without their urging or fingerprints, but facts don’t bear that out. The Task Force probably didn’t dictate the precise number of dealerships, plants and communities to obliterate, but they held all the cards. Both companies submitted restructuring plans in February, and both were rejected by the Task Force because they weren’t aggressive enough in shedding plants, employees and dealerships. Destitute and desperate, Chrysler and GM behaved no better than strung-out addicts, willing to sacrifice just about anyone and anything for a $56 billion fix. 

 The message from automakers to dealers was clear:  We know you’re protected by state franchise laws, invested millions in your businesses, don’t cost us much if any money, and have been fiercely loyal to us. But we’re this close to almost 60 billion in free money that most experts figure we’ll never repay.  C’mon dealers, take one for the team.

 The discarded dealers had other plans.  They were not simply “bad assets” to be tossed like rotting produce -- they were real people with families, customers and employees; American success stories and pillars of their communities. They found a sympathetic ear in both Houses of Congress, from both parties.

 Some say bankruptcies have lots of losers. True, but this wasn’t your mother’s bankruptcy. This one, courtesy of Uncle Sam, swatted secured creditors, employees, vendors and dealers like gnats, with callous and unprecedented haste. I won’t apologize for using the legislative process to try to reach a fairer outcome for those who were so wronged.

 Our president likes to say with the tough issues confronting the nation we can’t just kick the can down the road anymore.  Likewise, we shouldn’t kick thousands of dealers and 200,000 workers to the curb, especially in this economy.

The paper also editorialized on the issue.