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Democratic leaders in Congress asked the Bush
administration on Saturday to provide more aid to the struggling
auto industry, which is bleeding cash and jobs as sales have
dropped to their lowest level in a quarter-century.

      House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the
administration should consider expanding the $700 billion bailout
to include car companies.

      "A healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the
restoration of financial market stability, the overall health of
our economy, and the livelihood of the automobile sector's work
force," they wrote. "The economic downturn and the crisis in our
financial markets further imperiled our domestic automobile
industry and its work force."


      There was no immediate comment from the Bush administration
about the request to broaden the $700 billion financial industry
bailout so automakers could get a share.

      Automakers already want an additional $50 billion in loans from
Congress to help them survive tough economic conditions and pay for
health care obligations for retirees.

The companies are seeking the
loans as part of an economic aid plan that is now more likely to
come together early next year rather than in a postelection session
of Congress this month.


      Top executives of General Motors, Ford, Chrysler LLC and the
president of the United Auto Workers met with congressional leaders
Thursday to discuss the loans. The money would be on top of the $25
billion in loans that Congress passed in September to help retool
auto plants to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.


      "We left the meetings convinced that our nation's automobile
industry - the heart of our manufacturing sector - and the jobs of
tens of thousands of American workers are at risk," Pelosi,
D-Calif., and Reid, D-Nev., said in their letter to Paulson.


      Automakers want the new loans included in an economic aid plan
that is now more likely to come together early next year rather
than in a postelection session of Congress this month. If Congress
approved more loans, it would come with strings attached. 

Potential
protections include limits on executive compensation, awarding the
government preferred stock in the companies and a suspension of
dividend payments to investors.


      GM, the nation's largest automaker, warned Friday that it may
run out of money by the end of the year after piling up billions in
third-quarter losses and burning through cash at an alarming rate.


GM's chairman and chief executive, Rick Wagoner, said the company
will take every action possible to avoid bankruptcy. GM has planned
more job cuts, including another 5,500 salaried and factory
workers, but company officials warn that those measures alone would
not be enough and that federal aid was essential.
      

Ford, which recently announced it would slash more than 2,000
white collar jobs, also has seen a rapid decline in its cash
supply. But it is in better shape because the company borrowed
billions of dollars in 2007 by mortgaging its factories. The
company said it had enough cash to make it through 2009.


      "We must safeguard the interests of American taxpayers, protect
the hundreds of thousands of automobile workers and retirees, stop
the erosion of our manufacturing base, and bolster our economy," the Democratic leaders in Congress wrote.


      President-elect Obama said Friday his transition team would
explore policy options to help the auto industry. Obama's economic
transition team includes two allies of the U.S. auto industry -
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Rep. David Bonior,
D-Mich.

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Democratic leaders in Congress asked the Bush
administration on Saturday to provide more aid to the struggling
auto industry, which is bleeding cash and jobs as sales have
dropped to their lowest level in a quarter-century.


Dem leaders want Bush to help ailing automakers

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