Upton: Auto industry faces ‘grave’ economic fallout from pandemic

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) recently led a bipartisan contingent of 60 lawmakers in requesting that their chamber’s leaders support America’s $953 billion auto industry in the next COVID-19 emergency funding relief package.

“America’s motor vehicle industry must remain the heart of our nation’s manufacturing capability,” wrote the members in a May 12 letter sent to leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives, adding that the automotive industry employs roughly 10 million U.S. workers, or approximately 5 percent of private American employment.

Rep. Upton, along with U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and others, wrote that “the projected economic fallout for the industry is grave” with the pandemic impacting the industry’s network of thousands of companies supplying parts, components and materials, to giant production platforms, employing thousands of workers, as well as a vast retail and vehicle maintenance network of dealers.

“The automotive manufacturing base and resulting industry has been hit hard by the economic stress of the COVID-19 crisis,” the congressmen wrote, noting that sales are projected to drop as much as 30 percent for the year, from over 17 million cars sold in 2019.

Additionally, as workers begin to be called back during the COVID-19 pandemic, “serious challenges confront the protocols under which this must be organized to assure worker safety,” Rep. Upton and the members wrote. “Significant organizational costs will attend to this process.”

The members seek assurances from congressional leaders that “an appropriate response will be included so that American workers in the automotive industry can help drive a robust recovery.”