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The Bush White House stressed Monday that it
supports help for the struggling auto industry, but believes it
should not be taken from the $700 billion financial system rescue
program.
      

As lawmakers were returning to a lame duck session to focus on
the troubled industry, President Bush's chief spokeswoman issued a
statement saying the administration "does not want U.S. automakers
to fail." Press secretary Dana Perino complained that reporting on
the White House's on this issue has involved "attempts to
shorthand the administration's position."
      

Perino's early morning statement also made clear, however, that
the administration steadfastly opposes drawing funds from the
bailout plan to help Detroit. She said the $25 billion that
Democrats favor taking from the rescue plan should come, instead,
from a Department of Energy program previously approved to develop
fuel-efficient vehicles.
      

Democrats want to use part of the $700 billion Wall Street
bailout for emergency loans to help prop up the Big Three
carmakers. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC
are seeking an infusion of $25 billion, a figure that several
Senate Democrats embraced Sunday.
      

Senate Democrats plan to introduce legislation Monday attaching
an auto bailout to a House-passed bill extending unemployment
benefits. A vote was expected as early as Wednesday.
      

"There's a high degree of urgency" for federal action if GM is
going to stave off a financial crisis, Rick Wagoner, GM chairman
and chief executive, said Sunday in a joint appearance with United
Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger on WDIV-TV in Detroit.
      

"It's really time to move on this," Wagoner said.
      

In her statement Monday, Perino said, "The auto industry is an
important part of our manufacturing base, and we want the industry
to succeed and compete in the global economy." But she also said
that media reports have erroneously depicted the administration as
taking too harsh a stand on financial relief.
      

Her statement Monday seemed aimed more at elaborating on the
administration's position than revising or tweaking it.
      

"We believe this assistance should come from the program
created by Congress that was specifically designed to assist the
automakers - from the $25 billion Department of Energy loan
program," Perino said.
      

She said the $700 billion rescue program "was never intended by
Congress to assist automakers or other sectors of the economy. It
was solely intended to deal with what is an ongoing credit crisis
in our financial sector."
      

President-elect Barack Obama said he believes aid for the auto
industry is needed but that it should be provided as part of a
long-term plan - not simply as a blank check.
      

"For the auto industry to completely collapse would be a
disaster in this kind of environment," Obama said in a "60
Minutes" interview aired Sunday night on CBS. "So my hope is that
over the course of the next week, between the White House and
Congress, the discussions are shaped around providing assistance
but making sure that that assistance is conditioned on labor,
management, suppliers, lenders, all of the stakeholders coming
together with a plan - what does a sustainable U.S. auto industry
look like?"
      

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has embraced an auto
bailout, though she hasn't set a price tag. But passage is less
certain in the Senate, where majority Democrats will need at least
a dozen GOP votes to prevent opponents from blocking their measure.
      

On Sunday top Republican senators said using any of the Wall
Street bailout money to help carmakers would be a mistake. Sen.
Richard Shelby of Alabama called the U.S. auto industry a
"dinosaur" whose demise would simply be stalled by a bailout.
      

"I don't believe the $25 billion they're talking about will
make them survive," said Shelby, the senior Republican on the
Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. "It's just
postponing the inevitable."
      

Shelby spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press."
      

Congressional Democrats have some internal power struggles to
settle this week.
      

The House's longest-serving member, 82-year-old John Dingell of
Michigan, is fighting to keep the chairmanship of the powerful
Energy and Commerce Committee. And in the Senate, Democrats will
have their own showdown Tuesday when they decide whether to strip
independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut of his chairmanship
of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
      
      

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Business and Economic News

The White House says it supports aid for
struggling automakers, but believes it should not come from the
$700 billion financial system rescue fund.

White House refines position on auto industry help

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