This sort of makes up for the steel tariffs, assuming he holds to it.

Report: Bush Says Gov’t Might Not Bail Out U.S. Automakers

NEW YORK — President Bush is offering no encouragement to any U.S. automobile companies that might be thinking about turning to the federal government for a financial bailout.

“I think it’s very important for the market to function,” he said in an interview in the Thursday editions of The Wall Street Journal.

He said companies need to manufacture “a product that’s relevant” and that his administration has discussed new fuel technologies with the nation’s top two auto makers.

“As these automobile manufacturers compete for market share and use technology to try to get consumers to buy their product, they also will be helping America become less dependent on foreign sources of oil,” Bush said.

He repeats this whole foreign oil canard, as did 60 minutes last week (“dependence” is a poor description of our current situation, which is wholly dependent on price anyway, also, we use less foreign oil (as a percentage) as the price increases) but there’s been a lot of corporate welfare in this administration, probably more than Clinton’s and it’s nice to see it NOT happening somewhere.