Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Banking Committee, was in Westport today where he met with local auto dealers to draw attention to the difficulties their industry faces. 
Dodd talking to reporters in Westport today. Contributed photo
The session at Curran Cadillac Pontiac GMC of Westport on Post Road East drew auto dealers from from Westport, Wilton, Danbury, Fairfield, Woodbridge, Greenwich, and New Canaan.
Dodd said he convened the Westport session, which was closed to the press, to learn more about the auto industry’s problems from those most knowledgeable.
“They talk about the Big Three, but here at the local level things are just as dire,” Dodd said.
With a new report showing staggering job losses in November, he said that allowing any of the three auto companies to collapse would be unthinkable, given the dire economic conditions.
“I can guarantee you this, if we don’t step up and take some action here, this economy will grow worse by the hour,” Dodd told reporters.
But he said he could not guarantee that a bailout would work. “I wish I could sit here and tell you it would, but I can’t,” he said.
“More people will lose jobs, this economy will have far more difficulty to recover. … Inaction is unacceptable. We would be indicted by history that that’s what we did.”
