US lawmakers accused President Barack Obama on Monday of having a double-standard for failing banks and troubled automakers after he pushed out General Motors chief Rick Wagoner.
Wagoner "has been asked to resign as a political offering despite his having led GM?s painful restructuring to date," said Republican Representative Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan, US carmakers' historic home state.
"When will the Wall Street CEO?s receiving TARP funds summon the honor to resign? Will this White House ever bother to raise the issue? I doubt it," he said, referring to the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program for battered banks.
Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan said he saw a "double-standard" giving banks better treatment at the government's hands but emphasized "it's something we've got to live with and deal with" to save the auto industry.
"There's been a double standard for a long time," Levin told reporters on a conference call. "It's something which we've fought against."
But "even though I think there's been a double-stndard, we're still left with the need to fight for this industry," he said, underlining: "We can't let that distract us from this goal."
Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennesse blasted Obama's ouster of Wagoner as a power-grab and "a sideshow to distract us" from the absence of progress towards restructuring US automakers to make them competitive.
"With sweeping new power, the White House will be deciding which plants will survive and which won't. So in essence, this administration has decided they know better than our courts and our free market process how to deal with these companies," said Corker.
"This is a major power grab by the White House," Corker said in a statement, warning that Obama's decision "should send a chill through all Americans who believe in free enterprise."
