henderson? >> as of yesterday we received 856 request to reconsider our decision, we reversed 45 weeks elected to complete the review by today but given the number of requests we will plan to work through the weekend into monday to finish this and are willing to consider all request for consideration. >> mr. blankenbeckler you told me privately the amount of investment you have in your dealership, if you wish to would knowledge that, i would appreciate it if you would, but in any event, if you don't, i do you feel before that investment which has been built up over 84 years is just wiped out you should have some opportunity to get some renumeration or have a discussion about renumeration with gm and chrysler? >> i can imagine why that would not be the case in this country. i don't see as i said in my statement, i don't see how that could happen. >> could you give a general parameter of the amount of investment your family has made over the past years? you don't have two. >> i don't care to state

henderson? >> i don't have anything to add. >> gentlemen do believe your respective numbers of dealerships has been reduced for your restructuring plans and sfo has parity been achieved through these plants and a way which will be adequate with regard to our foreign transplant competitors? >> we tried to achieve a dealer network going forward to have a minimal impact on removing dealers there have been critics that say we did not go far enough, we did not want to go all the way to have parity but we are in a good position to go forward and have the dealer network emerge over time. but through the bankruptcy and emergence of a new company we have the optimum amount of dealers going forward 2391. >> and our case also as i mentioned we would expect 3600 dealers approximately even with a modest improvement next year and conservative assumptions we would almost double. >> very quickly, it is said the dealer should be permitted to remain open while you terminate to provide service and maintenance. wha

henderson. given the fact bankruptcy is a brutal tool and in some cases it may be necessary, do you believe that entity in general motors and chrysler which resort to bankruptcy for the best of intentions i will stipulate that for the moment, should bend over backwards on the side of giving the benefit of the doubt to dealers that have been loyal, effective and largely profitable partners to the manufacturers know what? >> i can't speak with the bankruptcy court should or shouldn't do -- >> i'm not asking what they should do, i'm asking what the company should or shouldn't do. >> the reason we approached winding down agreements is to handle this responsibly as we could. >> the bottom line is the law probably allows you to do what you're doing and i have no doubt that you've probably made the decision you think is consistent with exercise of your responsibilities. you have got tough jobs. but we have got a unique situation here where the brutal on fairness of the law is imposing enormous and fran

henderson this. the committee staff has received reports that some dealerships that have been chosen to go forward, in other words, not be closed, are being told that they should resign from positions of the national auto dealers association, an ada and from positions on state auto dealer associations because of nadh support of legislation to reinstate straight state franchise agreements as the hr 2473. soap rdw mr. henderson or mr. press aware of any cause made on behalf of gm or chrysler to tell people not to be on these boards, state boards? >> mr. chairman, i'm not aware of any bills. >> not only am i not aware of them, if anybody in my company is doing i would like to reprimand them or perhaps let them go. >> , will you commit, mr. press and mr. henderson, will you commit to sending out a letter, a correspondent, a message to your employees of your company's that such intimidation would not be tolerated? >> we had a caulfield conference call with all of our field organization prior to starting t

henderson? >> i don't have anything to add. >> gentlemen do believe your respective numbers of dealerships has been reduced for your restructuring plans and sfo has parity been achieved through these plants and a way which will be adequate with regard to our foreign transplant competitors? >> we tried to achieve a dealer network going forward to have a minimal impact on removing dealers there have been critics that say we did not go far enough, we did not want to go all the way to have parity but we are in a good position to go forward and have the dealer network emerge over time. but through the bankruptcy and we have the optimum number of dealers going forward. >> in our case, we would expect 3600 dealers would have the throughput almost doubled. >> it has been said that the dealer said be allowed to remain open while you are terminating service and support. what is wrong with that arrangement? >> there are existing dealers that surround them that are taking the franchise. the dodge-jeep deale

henderson and mr. press, in response to, i think it was senator johanns question about economic analysis, mr. hendern, did you say you did not perform any economic analysis on dealer by dealer in making these decisions? did either of you perform an economic analysis using specific criteria by cwhich you made thee decisions in targeting these dealers. >> the criteria was sales effectiveness so the dealers that were notified for wind down have been consistently underperforming in terms of sales effectiveness. we have had made mistakes, however. and second, customer satisfaction has been below average by a significant degree for a significant period of time. >> that's contrary to some of the dealers i've heard from in terms of where they ranked. i said it once specifically, so where it is truly puzzling given the fact in the state of maine, just so you understand, more than 50% of the registered vehicles are either gm or chrysler. and yet we're going to have some of the largest counties in maine without a

henderson and mr. presser testimony about what could make a dealer profitable, using cars or parts or service saying or other things. i will start with mr. henderson, if a dealer is profitable, and buying cars from the manufacturer what it is selling, what does it matter if the profit center is derived from new cars or sales center or parts? >> good question the. >> thank you. >> in the case of the dealers who were impacted in the wind down situation 60% were not profitable. >> my question is if a dealership is profitable then it why should you care what center? very quickly. >> we look at overall profitability not individual centers. >> right. but if a dealer is profitable from whatever source and buying cars from gm, why would you care? if it is profitable then why not let it stay in business? >> we don't care if it is from parts. >> so why would you close a dealership like that? >> not all cases were profitable. >> customer satisfaction. >> now it is customer satisfaction? >> multiple criteria. >> m

henderson, of your proposal and what do i see? wind down dealers by state, pennsylvania, 90, ohio, 79, ellen malae, 66, wisconsin, 50, michigan, 58, indiana, 48, iowa, 46. and after your description of why these foreign auto makers are not playing in this part of the country i find it very difficult to believe that you will perpetuate your brand loyalty in light of these deals are pleasures in my state and representative stupak and congressman dingell and congressman sutton. i see the evaporation because of this practice and i wonder whether it is part of your you have given consideration to that. mr. henderson? >> first of all, i'm able for the unborn in the state of michigan. second of all, when we are done general motors will still have what we believe will be the largest distribution system for the small towns in the u.s.. approximately 1500 of the 3600 will be located, sir. >> actually, through the new dealer network with increased the share of dealers in the rural markets and reduced the share of dealers in the metro markets

henderson or mr. press aware of any cause made on behalf of gm or chrysler to tell people not to be on these boards, state boards? >> mr. chairman, i'm not aware of any bills. >> not only am i not aware of them, if anybody in my company is doing i would like to reprimand them or perhaps let them go. >> , will you commit, mr. press and mr. henderson, will you commit to sending out a letter, a correspondent, a message to yo have information i would -- >> here's the e-mail from one of the. >> if you have such an e-mail, why don't you give it to one of the members so they can ask more specifically on the. mr. henderson. >> mr. chairman, i will put that in writing. >> so i take mr. press and mr. henderson you will put that in writing for us. thanks. let me ask this. you said under a review and fortify dealers have that decision reversed. so you didn't have an appeal process until you testified before the senate, right? >> no, sir. we had planned to have an appeal process. >> does dealers that were close wh

henderson and mr. press, your corporations were built on the backs of people like the dealers use the in this room who went out there, invested in their communities and made to profitable during your boom time. and now i think each of you and your company is owed them and the taxpayers of this country a detailed explanation for your business decisions because we have to live with the aftermath. and i welcome every once testimony on the committee and the board to further opportunities to question the witness. >> thanks, mr. braley. miss degette for opening statement, please. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. in following up on what mr. braley and mr. barton said, these bankruptcies and is closing of the local car dealerships are not just affecting the dealers em

henderson and mr. press, in response to, i think it was senator johanns question about economic analysis, mr. henderson, did you say you did not perform any economic analysis on dealer by dealer in making these decisions? did either of you perform an economic analysis using specific criteria by cwhich you made thee decisions in targeting these dealers. >> the criteria was sales effectiveness so the dealers that were notified for wind down have been consistently underperforming in terms of sales effectiveness. we have

henderson. john mceleney of national auto dealers association. >> [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] the jim of dealers throughout this ordeal. in the initial viability submissions chrysler mention nothing other than continuing our current program to facilitate dealer consolidation. yet bankruptcy has less on hundred 89 chrysler dealerships without franchisees on 26 days' notice without even buying back their vehicles, cars and factories specific tools. it no manufacturer has ever done this. gm original liability submissions reflected desire to eliminate some brands in his call for additional dealer consolidation over an extended time. now besides the brand eliminations, 1350 additional gm dealers face terminations on a much more aggressive time line. why this dramatic shift? in response to a question before the senate banking committee on june 10th, ron bloom of the auto task force said and i quote, we did not give the companies in the miracle targets but we certainly did say regarding plants

henderson, it has got to be uncomfortable for you have to come here. it is uncomfortable honestly for me to have you here, because it means that we're doing something that is outside the realm of what we know about. i don't think anybody here has any particular -- with some exception, any particular expertise in the car business. i certainly don't profess to. and -- but you find yourself now with a board of directors essentially, 535 members, and you have to be subjected to all of these questions which i'm certain you feel are micromanaging your business. but we are now partners and as partners, these are the types of questions that you get to answer. and i appreciate, mr. press, you sharing with me a little bit about what your intentions are with respect to my state of south dakota. you had indicated that there are seven dealerships in my state of south dakota, and i might add, too, just for point of reference, in a small state, like mine, and a lot of small communities, the car dealership really is the center of gravity for the entire community. it i

in addition he was instrumental in bringing nevada state college to henderson. as a city of henderson turns a page after more than a decade of leadership from these two outstanding public servants, i want to congratulate our new mayor and new city councilwoman. i look forward to working closely with them and wish them all the best in their new positions. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado rise? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. coffman: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i rise today to share my concerns about house resolution 2346, the war supplemental bill. our troops deserve nothing less than a clean war supplemental bill free from unrelated spending. we must give our troops the resources necessary to ensure victory in iraq and afghanistan. i visited iraq over the memorial recess. my first trip back since having served there with the united states

>> fritz henderson, a lot of concern about the future of gm in terms of losing market share. same old story, you could be back to restructuring. what is the plan to stabilize u.s. market share? you had pleaded to u.s. consumers at the beginning to give you another chance. is this the right time to rethink the way you have approached the market? give some texture on how those things will change. the market share story at gm those have a silver lining. >> the last 60 or 90 days has been hectic. we have been intensely focused on getting issues behind us. the approach we're taking -- i will focus my attention on the u.s. market

henderson claimed in a tv interview that there were economic rational and no one's aware of it. how they were determined. so what exactly silent rational for shutting a dealership like the one in maine i had a conversation with a dealership heartbreaking conversation. had one of the most thoroughly trained workforces, highest customer service index in the state and according to general motors they could no longer maintain a productive business relationship. why? this is a business that's been in partnership with general motors for 80 years. third-generation. and g.m. asked this dealer to pack up and relocate and now they are targeted for closure. due in part to that relocation. this is a dealership that has served an area of more than 100,000 people sold more than 2 million in parts and confidently several popular here's the in the entire county will go from multiple g.m. dealerships to absolutely none leaving geographic areas without any dealers, without customers having to rely on providing, getting the service that they depend upon, having to drive 100 miles or mohr for servi

henderson and mr. press and others coming some distance. i know that you've raised your hand and that because the rules of the ray hearing i couldn't recognize you so if there's something you want to add we will go right on the line and if anybody wants to add something that we will wrap this up. we are going to keep it somewhat brief. >> im just perplexed when mr. press last week said in the case of dealers not being taken forward last year they lost 55,000 units of sales, i -- the number is important to them apparently. but then like i say, they are going to lose 140,000 units in sales when the steelers are removed. i know that he says they can only produce 700,000 cars but there has to be a plan in place for growth the market improves. i'm sure it can build another 140,000 cars. that's why i am perplexed on that so i thought i would throw that in. >> thank you for coming. mr. spitzer, anything? >> [inaudible] [inaudible] >> mr. press? >> i appreciate the opportunity to communicate with the kennedy and provide this information. it's been

henderson, mr. fritz henderson, who is the chief executive officer of general motors. >> good afternoon, mr. chairman, senator hutchison. i welcome this opportunity to testify today. it's our obligation to be open and transparent in all we do to reinvent general motors, particularly with the american taxpayer as our single largest investor. before i explain why and how we go about restructuring and consolidating our dealer network, i want to talk about the human story behind our plants. our actions have forever changed the lives of people, families and whole communities. for our dealers, they are valued partners, friends and the face of gm to our customers. personally and professionally, i feel strong, deep ties to dealers. i personally have worked at dealerships in my summer in college. my father, 39 years calling on buick dealers. my brother, 25 years. it's in my family. through my career and over my career i visited dealers in 48 countries around the world, including the united states. i have wal

henderson from general motors, we're honored to have you here today as well. we have hard questions and i appreciate your willingness to come here today and explain your situation, your perspective with clear and straight answers. since american taxpayers on sister% of general motors we have a right to know just how the decisions affecting our constituents are made. we have a duty to make this process more accountable and trans parents were all concerned. so let's start with a look at the customer service. mr. henderson, you spend pretty large sum of money on newspaper ads recently and i'm sure you're familiar with their own ads proclaiming concern for greater transparency and customer service. yet you have dictated the closure of gm dealerships across organic and the country and it was specific in burns, organophosphate appear if you are a gm customer and the dealership in burns, oregon is closed, your nearest gm dealer is idaho 136 miles away. that is the equivalent of driving from philadelphia to washington d.c. to get service for your general motors vehicl

henderson, how many minority dealerships will be out of business because of your action? >> of our 230 minority dealers, we're in the brands that will go forward with us, 44 will be affected by this action or 19%, which is less than the average, sir. >> okay. you talk about the auto task force putting pressure on you to close more dealerships, the report on march 30th criticized you for not being aggressive enough. did you have a plan or a notion prior to march 30th as to how many dealerships general motors would close? >> two things changed, sir. one is we actually accelerated our brand rationalization so, for example, we dropped the pontiac brand which brought forward a series of actions that we otherwise would have taken later, number one. number two, our plan called for us arriving at about the same level of dealers in the end of our business plan period which was 2014 and the view was that was too lock, you needed to move faster on this which we did and so we will arrive at roughly the level that was in our original plan of 2014 by 2010. >> you've aggressively accele

henderson and mr. press, your corporations were built on the backs of people like the dealers use the in this room who went out there, invested@@@@@@@ affecting the dealers themselves, but millions of people who live in all of our districts who are going to be inconvenienced at the very least. .. because on the one hand, we see these profitable dealerships in our districts. on the other hand, we see the need for consolidation and for saving money but we don't quite understand how closing those profitable dealerships works escially given the human implications and that's why we're concerned and that's why we're having this hearing. i think that our constituents deserve an explanation. i want to mention one other thing really briefly that's not the subject of this hearing, mr. chairman, but it might be worth some further investigation. as part of the administration's bankruptcy plans, they are putting all of the product liability court claims into the bankruptcy court, which is going to wipe out the clai

henderson have claimed in an interview there was economic rationale for these actions. it has been reported neither the wind house is aware of the economic rationale behind the closings of precisely how they would determine so what is the rationale for shunning a dealership like in maine. i had a conversation with a dealer, heartbreaking story and conversation and of most poorly trained workforce is, high as customer service index in the state and according to a letter from. >> and alondra maintain a productive business relationship. why? this is a business that has been in partnership with general motors for 80 years, third-generation and gm asked this dealer to pack upç and relocate and now they are targeted foreclosure. due in part to that relocation. this is a dealership that serves an area of more than 1,000 people and $2 million and confidentially deals in several populous area as an entire counties will go from multiple gm dealerships to absolutely none. leaming geographical areas without anyhnealers and customers time to rely on providing getting the service t

henderson. mr. henderson, just in terms of how you got to this list of dealers survive, this list of dealers don't, how did you get to that list? did you form a committee at general motors or something like that? >> we went back and looked at history, senator, of both sales effectiveness as well as customer service and a series of other matrix as well but those two would be the most important in terms of evaluating it, not just simply one year but going back multiple years. >> who headed that up at general motors? give me a name. >> his name was ben marklinave. >> what relationship did you have then with the auto task force, the administration, as you were working your way through this process? >> the auto task force was not involved in the process at all. >> were they made aware of your process or did you surprise them like you surprised the dealers? >> they were aware of the process but they were not involved in it. no. >> did they ever see any of the documents that were produced? >> we have not s

but henderson and kaman were both in moscow during the war years. and he came back he found he was ahead of the head of the policy department and was old friends from moscow. he worked with 10% on this memo and this is what they told truman, imagine here's a new president kept out of the loop by fdr getting this memo from someone as brilliant and forceful as jfk, they wrote the united states supports a partition already brought about loss of u.s. prestige and disillusionment among the arabs. the saudis warned where the anti-american mood american oil basis and oil concessions and foreign bases were in danger. if partition became reality, they warned moderate arabs would be swept out of power and replaced by extremists. particularly come with eight warned the grand mufti of jerusalem. than the arabs "would hate the west in direct proportion to the support of the zionist army's and of the partition in particular. then secondly if it occurs at a jewish state created do become a threat to the success of the marshall plan because the arabs would cut off

two guys get into the hall of fame, ricky henderson i think hit over .400 against me. what an annoying guy. then he will steal second and third. >> rob: that's even more annoying. >> jim p.: really annoying. hernandez on at first and nieves up. >> jim p.: i wanted to do to ricky henderson what president obama did to that fly, i just could never catch him. we were looking at the scoreboard, aren't we seeing what the orioles try to do when they get an early lead? tack on those runs. >> jim h.: absolutely. orioles have only four hits in this game. breaking ball high fly ball to left. playable for reimold. has it for the out. inning ends.  hey mom i need some minutes. i just gave you some at the restaurant. yea i know. i threw them out. they were old so...... old! they are rollover minutes. they're as good as new. ya know not everyone gets to keep their unused minutes. and these days we can't afford to be wasteful. saving minutes..... .....saves money. yea. (announcer) only at&t's family talk with rollover saves your family's unused minutes. and saving m

or in my state, like sheryl brown henderson of the brown family of the brown v. education, the landmark desegregating case inquir whered that even if a school is equal, segregation is inherently wrong. and that they've stood for it and stood tall to bring us to a better point in time. you know, it hasn't been all that long ago -- i started out in a professional career in broadcasting and one of the guys next to me was a sports broadcaster. and he would tell the story about -- and this is even in the big-8 where senator harkin and i share some territory -- they talk about people, african-americans coming on the basketball court being cheered wildly by everybody at the school but then not able to eat at the lunch counter in the community. well, everybody is cheering for them on the basketball court but they can't eat at the lunch counter. and the sportscaster was talking to me about that. or my old friend jack kemp who recently passed away, who was a strong advocate for african-americans and senator doing -- and for doing things like this and what he saw in the spo

don't ever consult ricky henderson though on banking. supposedly, he carried a million dollar check in his wallet for quite a while. >> rob: that's ez -- that's close to the truth. hearing from dennis, we have the same agent, he framed it and put it on his walls and was messing up the as accounting but not cashing the million dollar check. they said, ricky, if you cash the check, we'll send it back to you or write you a new one you can frame. you need to cash it. >> bob: bonifacio to his left. he gets nieves. >> rob: can you imagine having enough money to leave a million dollar check on the wall? >> bob: that's ricky. >> rob: that's impressive. i heard a story once he got on a bus and somebody said, ricky, you don't have to sit in the back. you have ten newer this game. he said, i don't have no tenure. i've been in this game 21 years. craig stammen, he does have two hits this year, does not have a major league rbi. elijah dukes, good speed, scoring position. hermida can play very shallow in right. i'm surprised he's playing as deepd deep

and he chose to put his principles into action by serving as chairman of the henderson county republican party for eight years. that's where i first met dove, this kind, giving, caring individual. he was always upbeat. he always had a smile on his face. and he always knew if we worked together that america's best days would lay ahead of her. he made a difference. as the congressman for the fifth district of texas, i'm honored an frankly humbled to recognize my good friend, doug mccarty. on behalf of all the constituents of the fifth district of texas, and a grateful nation, i would like to extend our heartfelt condolences and prayers to jo ann and the family. dove will be greatly missed but i take solace in knowing that his contributions will live on and that the people who had their lives touched by him will never forget. madam speaker, i am one of those people. godspeed to dove mccarty. he has left us but he has gone on to now hear those words in a different place, well-done, good and faithful servant. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields b

>> well, lloyd henderson who long talked about the was stationed in the soviet union after that and he was the head of the near eastern division, he was stationed in iraq, and doubles and iraq that he developed this very antizionist position. >> and what is the man who translate fdr's -- >> eddy. >> he became the first ambassador from the saudi -- first ambassador to the saudis and he translated the text of fdr's conversations of why we know what happened there. he was, again, believe in the arab nation, and saw the saudi position as the just one and arab position as the just one and considered his role as ambassador. and before that, to explain to the united states the just cause of the saudis and the arabs. >> let me say one more thing about that. from what we could surmise, the united states really didn't have that developed a position about the middle east. and they sort of followed the british and they saw the british as the ones who as having the mandate were the ones that had the responsibility for palestine. so in essence, they had a very similar position to the british foreign

fritz henderson, chief executive officer of general motors corporation. mr. braley, you want to introduce john? >> i'm pleased to have john who's president of the auto dealers president in clinton, iowa, in my district and also has another franchise in iowa city, welcome, john. >> mr. spitzer -- betty help me out elyiri a. >> he has been in the business a long time in eylira and the surrounding years. 100 years i believe in the auto dealership. [inaudible] >> well, those are pretty deep roots and i am honored and i'm grateful, mr. chairman, that you brought mr. spitzer to share his experience not only in obviously providing our communities with the cars they need to drive but helping to shore up so much within our community by sponsoring organizations and contributing to the quality of life there. >> next we have mr. bob thomas, mr. walden, would you like to say a few words there. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. thomas is a constituent of mine from bend, oregon. his grandfather formed the dealership for general motors in 1918. he served as lieutenan

and wade henderson, the president of the leadership conference and civil rights. the junior professor of public interest. we have worked on so many things. i am ready to tear out what hair i have left, this will give mate -- they will give me a a thumbs up, eventually, we do this. you are going here at such an exciting time. your focus on restoring the world with human rights and economic recovery. they said, was there really change in america. he said my name is barack obama, how much change do you expect. people come up and they want to shake my hand. they want to say, are you an american. we were changing airplanes at the airport. they would say, [unintelligible] are you an american? i am so happy for america. when i was in law school, i was inspired by john kennedy. i have had the privilege of working with his youngest brother, ted kennedy. he will hold hearings on the nomination of obama of sonia sotomayor to be the associate justice of the supreme court of the united states. i have my chief counsel here, we're going to get her informed -- confirmed. you bett