Auto task force says fundamental industry restructuring needed

WASHINGTON -- The leaders of President Barack Obama's auto industry task force said Friday the industry urgently needs an overhaul.

Geithner and Summers "emphasized the urgency of the issues affecting the American auto industry and the need for fundamental restructuring," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The panel "discussed issues including financial and operational restructuring, improving competitiveness of wage and benefit structures, and progress toward creating clean, competitive cars of the future," the Treasury said.

Geithner and Summers asked panel experts for additional analysis and initial recommendations for the group's next meeting, which hasn't been announced.

Obama formed the task force earlier this week after deciding not to appoint an auto czar to supervise the auto companies' restructuring.

General Motors and Chrysler have received a combined $17.4 billion in federal loans and submitted requests on Tuesday for an additional $21.6 billion. The new requests were included in progress reports required by the government.

GM's Canadian subsidiary on Friday requested 6 billion Canadian dollars ($4.8 billion) in government loans to maintain production in Canada. The automaker said the additional loan request was proportionate to the $30 billion in loans sought from the Obama administration.

The administration said the task force will be composed of other members of Obama's Cabinet including the secretaries of Transportation, Commerce, Labor and Energy as well as the heads of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, Office of Management and Budget, Environmental Protection Agency and the director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change.

Task force designees include Ron Bloom, a Steelworkers union official and adviser to Geithner, Diana Farrell, Summers' deputy at the National Economic Council, Gene Sperling, a former White House economic adviser to President Bill Clinton, and Jared Bernstein, chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden.