Congressman Tim Walz (DFL-MN, 1st District) issued a statement on General Motors’ bankruptcy filing on Monday.

“The auto bailout not only failed to protect the taxpayers, but it failed to keep GM out of bankruptcy,” Walz said. “My hope is that bankruptcy will be a healthy process for GM and that it will come out on the other side a stronger company that can continue the great American tradition of manufacturing cars right here in our hometowns.”

Walz issued the following statement in December 2008 about the auto bailout:

“I voted against the auto industry bailout for the same reason I voted against the Wall Street bailout: because it doesn’t do enough to protect the taxpayers who are footing the bill.  Nothing in this bill will prevent the auto manufacturers and their suppliers from continuing to move jobs overseas. And we have no guarantee that spending $15 billion in taxpayers’ money will actually solve the Big Three’s problems. We must preserve and create jobs in America but this isn’t the way to do it.”

GM’s Monday filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection is the largest ever for an industrial company. GM, which said it has $172.81 billion in debt and $82.29 billion in assets, had received about $20 billion in low-interest loans before entering bankruptcy protection.

Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code frees a company from the threat of creditors’ lawsuits while it reorganizes its finances. The debtor’s reorganization plan must be accepted by a majority of its creditors.

The third of the one-time Big Three, Ford Motor Co., has also been stung hard by plunging sales of cars and trucks, but it avoided bankruptcy by mortgaging all of its assets in 2006 to borrow roughly $25 billion, giving it a financial cushion GM and Chrysler lacked.

Ford issued a statement Monday saying it “remains absolutely committed to continuing to make progress on our transformation plan without accessing emergency taxpayer assistance from the U.S. government.”

The bankruptcy filing represents a dramatic downfall for GM, which was founded in 1908 by William C. Durant, who brought several car companies under one roof and developed a strategy of “a car for every purse and purpose.” Longtime leader Alfred P. Sloan built the global automaker into a corporate icon.