To Members of Congress:

The global financial market crisis has spread across all sectors of the U.S. economy and has threatened economic growth and job creation. Business Roundtable supported the Economic Rescue legislation as a necessary step to avert a complete shutdown of our financial system. As this crisis spreads, it is now affecting other important sectors of the economy, most significantly our automotive sector.

As an association of CEOs of the nation’s leading companies, we recognize that these extraordinary times demand extraordinary actions to preserve our economy’s viability. As a result, we urge you to support making immediately available relief to the domestic automakers to address their liquidity challenges caused by the financial crisis. We believe this support should be short-term; allow the taxpayers to recover their investment; and provide a clear path for the return of normal functioning of the industry and the economy.

The economic consequences of a collapse of the automotive sector would have a substantial and widespread negative impact on millions of American workers and the entire economy.

We urge you to act expeditiously, and we remain committed to working with you to address the economic challenges facing our workers and businesses.

Sincerely,

Harold McGraw III