Issa blasts Treasury's exit from Chrysler

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has blasted the Treasury for taking a $1.3 billion loss on its exit from the bailout of Chrysler.

On Thursday, the Treasury announced that Italian auto maker Fiat, which is in the process of merging with Chrysler, had completed the $560 million purchase of the government's outstanding take in the domestic car company.

In turn, Issa criticized the administration for not recouping all of its $12.5 billion rescue investment in Chrysler — especially since the deal was made with a foreign company.

"The administration has sold out an American icon to a foreign company using TARP funds underwritten by taxpayers," he said in a statement. "Now they are essentially giving that same company $1.3 billion of taxpayer money.

"At a time when American taxpayers must make tough choices to repay their mortgages — even on houses worth less than they paid — it is unfathomable that Italian automaker Fiat and its subsidiary Chrysler got away with repaying less than the full amount borrowed from the U.S. government," he added.

Although the government only expects to recoup $11.2 billion of the Chrysler bailout, the Treasury touted the speed at which the government exited the rescue effort, which officials said saved a large number of American jobs.

“With today's closing, the US government has exited its investment in Chrysler at least six years earlier than expected,” said the Treasury's assistant secretary for financial stability, Tim Massad. “This is a major accomplishment and further evidence of the success of the Administration’s actions to assist the US auto industry, which helped save a million jobs during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.”

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