Obama Administration officials met with a group of Detroit leaders, including former mayor Dennis Archer, Kresge CEO Rip Rapson, and Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert, to discuss how the federal government could (short of a bailout) help soften the blow of Detroit's bankruptcy.
Detroit News: White House officials explicitly ruled out any federally financed bailout or special legislation to support the cash-strapped city. Instead, they pushed for ways the administration could help the city’s business and political leadership leverage existing federal tools to speed the restructuring and soften the blow of bankruptcy.
“As strongly supportive as they were,” presidential adviser Gene Sperling “was very clear they could not be talking in terms of a bailout,” Rapson said in an interview Monday. “They made it very clear that was not in the cards, technically or politically.”
The meeting, which included senior Obama advisor Valarie Jarrett and at least four cabinet secretaries, reportedly led to the release of community development block grants and an increase in New Markets Tax Credits for Detroit businesses.
This week Sperling and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan are expected to meet with labor leaders like UAW President Bob King to discuss the bankruptcy's impact on organized labor.
Leveraging tax credits si, bailout no!
