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Business News/ Politics / News/  White House closer to approve auto bailout
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White House closer to approve auto bailout

White House closer to approve auto bailout

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Washington: The White House and congressional Democrats on Tuesday night reached an agreement in principle on a $15 billion proposal for bailing out US automakers, officials said.

A Bush administration official and a Democratic leadership aide said the accord covered key points but final issues needed to resolved and put in writing.

Democrats have arranged to have the House of Representatives vote on a bill as early as Wednesday and send it to the Senate for consideration.

President George W Bush and President-elect Barack Obama were both urged by a key lawmaker to help rally support by Democrats and Republicans for the pending measure.

“Bipartisan hard work has paid off," said Democratic Sen Carl Levin of Michigan whose home state headquarters General Motors Corp Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC.

The bailout is designed to allow GM and Chrysler to avert threatened bankruptcy through March with short-term loans. Ford Motor Co is not requesting immediate help but would like a line of credit in case its finances worsen.

The parties that negotiated the tentative deal agreed last week that the money would come from an Energy Department fund established in September to help Detroit make more fuel-efficient cars.

‘Car czar’ to monitor

The administration official said the negotiators satisfied the key White House concern in the talks that companies receiving aid obtain the necessary concessions and make other changes to prove they can survive and compete.

In addition to providing $15 billion in loans, the Democratic proposal would force automakers to answer to a presidentially appointed trustee - or “car czar" - and make the government their biggest shareholder.

The negotiators have resolved questions about the overseer, which will have powers to shape a restructuring of the companies, withholding further loans if progress toward a turnaround stalled.

A key provision would permit the czar to recommend a bankruptcy restructuring if companies borrowing money fail to obtain the necessary concessions. Some Republicans wanted some sort of bankruptcy option included as an incentive for labor and other stakeholders to agree on givebacks.

The administration still opposes a Democratic bid to force automakers to drop lawsuits against California and other states seeking to cut auto emissions and other greenhouse gases. The administration official said it was his expectation the bill will not succeed unless that provision is struck.

Democrats control Congress and were expected to be able to muscle a bill through the House. But it was unclear if Republicans could stop a measure in the Senate with a procedural roadblock that requires 60 votes to clear.

A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said he would decline comment until he saw the bill.

An auto bailout has evoked competing emotions in Congress.

Lawmakers fear if automakers collapse, it would deepen the US recession. But many say market forces, not a government saddled with a record deficit, should determine their fate.

There also is reluctance to provide another federal rescue in the wake of the voter backlash against Congress for its passage of a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street in October.

At the same time, many argue that if Congress provided relief for millionaires in the US financial industry, it should also help blue-collar autoworkers facing unemployment.

A poll by CBS News conducted last week found Americans split on whether taxpayer funds should help automakers.

But more than 65% said in exchange for any aid, the government should have a say in the automakers’ management and require more fuel-efficient cars.

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Published: 10 Dec 2008, 12:53 PM IST
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