Bills to reverse GM, Chrysler dealer closings gain steam

Posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 3:25 PM EDT.

The House’s No. 2 Democrat said lawmakers may try to revive stalled legislation to reverse dealer terminations if General Motors Co., the Chrysler Group and dealer groups don’t sit down soon to begin negotiating a settlement, the Automotive News reported.

Also today, Sen. Charles Grassley asked Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy to conduct hearings on legislation he introduced to reverse Chrysler’s 789 dealership closures and halt GM’s plans to shutter 1,350 stores, the publication said. Together, the statements by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Grassley suggest that legislation that has been dormant for months could be resuscitated in response to delays in starting settlement talks, the Automotive News said.

The discussions were intended by lawmakers as an alternative to the measure that passed the House, but went nowhere in the Senate after the Obama administration said it raised constitutional issues, the paper said. Hoyer, D-Md., told reporters that he and other lawmakers were “working very hard on getting to a point where we can sit down to see whether or not there is a possibility of reaching accommodation between the parties.” (Automotive News)

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