Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the US House of Representatives, has made clear that Congress will not press on with a bail-out of carmakers unless it can impose significant restrictions on General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
Some curbs would be similar to those imposed on the financial services companies receiving government help, such as tougher standards on executive pay, a prohibition on “golden parachutes” and a requirement that the industry must repay taxpayers for any costs incurred by the rescue after a certain period.
It may be hard for Detroit to resist such demands. Bob Nardelli, chief executive of Chrysler, warned yesterday that it would be “very difficult” for the company to survive the downturn without government help, while Goldman Sachs said that General Motors alone might need $22bn (€17.5bn, £15bn) in federal aid.
Staffers on the House financial services committee have been busy drafting the terms of the rescue in recent days, before a hearing in Washington next week featuring the heads of Detroit's “Big Three”.
Democratic leaders insist that a bail-out must be tied to improved vehicle fuelefficiency. Ms Pelosi said: “It is essential for the domestic automobile manufacturing industry to re-emerge as a global, competitive leader in fuel-efficiency.”
参考译文：
民主党籍美国众议院议长南希•佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)明确表示，除非能对通用汽车(General Motors)、福特(Ford)和克莱斯勒(Chrysler)施加大量限制，否则国会不会推进对汽车制造商的纾困。
美国国会拟议中一些限制措施，将与对获得政府援助的金融服务业企业的限制类似，例如更严格的高管薪酬标准，禁止签署“金色降落伞”(Golden Parachutes)协议，以及要求该行业在一定时期之后必须向纳税人偿还纾困所带来的任何费用。
美国的汽车制造商可能难以抵制上述要求。克莱斯勒首席执行官鲍勃•纳尔代利(Bob Nardelli)昨日警告，如果没有政府援助，该公司将“很难”度过这场经济低迷。高盛(Goldman Sachs)则表示，仅通用汽车自身就可能需要220亿美元的联邦援助资金。
众议院金融服务委员会(House Financial Services Committee)的工作人员近些天来一直忙于起草纾困条款。随后，一场由底特律汽车业“三巨头”各自掌门人担任主角的听证会将于下周在华盛顿召开。
民主党领导人坚称，纾困必须与提高车辆燃油效率挂钩。佩洛西表示：“对美国汽车制造业来说，在燃油效率方面重新成为有竞争力的全球领导者是至关重要的。”
（转载）
