WASHINGTON — The chief executives of Detroit’s Big Three automakers departed Washington empty-handed on Wednesday night after two days of pleading for a financial lifeline on Capitol Hill.þþAs the public hearings and intense behind-the-scenes negotiations appeared to come to naught, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, went to the floor seeking to bring up the Democrats’ plan to provide $25 billion in aid from the $700 billion financial bailout program. The Republicans objected, effectively killing the plan. þþSenator Christopher S. Bond, Republican of Missouri, then requested that the Senate consider a compromise measure that would speed access to $25 billion in federally subsidized loans that have been signed into law by President Bush. Those loans, however, were meant to help the auto companies retool their plants to make fuel-efficient vehicles, so Mr. Reid objected to that. þþIn an interview on Wednesday evening in his Washington office, Rick Wagoner, the chief executive of General Motors, the most imperiled of the auto companies, struggled to remain upbeat after two days of grueling testimony. Lawmakers had criticized Mr. Wagoner and the two other chief executives for failing long ago to build better cars or to revamp their operations. They were even attacked for traveling to Washington in corporate jets, which some lawmakers mocked as hardly a sign of frugality. þþ“This is all part of what we signed up for when we made this request,” Mr. Wagoner said, seeming drained and uncertain of what would come next. “We knew we needed to testify and come down and tell our story, and we know the Congress needs to decide if it’s going to act and how it’s going to act. We don’t think realistically one should have expected an answer tonight, and I still remain hopeful.” þþBut with the House set to adjourn at the end of Thursday, the automakers were left with only the dimmest of hopes that Congress would provide any assistance this year. þþAnd though Mr. Reid did not completely close the door to a deal, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly expressed strong opposition to the core of Mr. Bond’s proposal. þþIn a sign of the pessimism among Congressional Democrats, the majority leader, Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, told lawmakers on Wednesday evening that no House votes were expected Thursday, meaning the Senate was not expected to send over any legislation for approval. þþMr. Wagoner met with Congressional leaders late Wednesday before leaving for Detroit, and while he declined to say if he expected some last-minute aid package, he said G.M. would welcome any form of assistance.þþ“I think it best we leave what’s the best way to do this to the Congressional leaders and to the administration to sort out,” he said. “We’d be happy to work under any of the scenarios I’ve been told about.”þþMr. Wagoner testified Wednesday that G.M. had not prepared a contingency plan for a bankruptcy filing if federal aid is not forthcoming. He said t G.M.’s advisers had concluded that it could not obtain credit to operate in a bankruptcy, and instead would have to consider liquidating its assets.þþThe auto industry’s immediate future may now lie with the Bush administration, which has staunchly opposed using the Treasury Department’s $700 billion financial bailout program to aid Detroit. Democrats continued to insist Wednesday that the Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., has legal authority to tap the fund and should do so. þþ“I talked to Secretary Paulson twice today; he knows he has authority,” Mr. Reid said on the Senate floor. “He doesn’t want to do it.” þþMr. Bond, whose state houses factories for all of the Big Three, pressed Mr. Reid to consider an alternative plan that he and Senator George V. Voinovich of Ohio had been developing in consultation with Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan.þþ“This is a critical time to move to prevent perhaps the bankruptcy or disappearance of a major auto company, which would cause chaos in our country,” Mr. Bond said. “Over three million jobs are related to the auto industry, from the auto assembly plants to the auto dealerships, parts suppliers.” þþBut Mr. Reid said it was too soon to put it to a vote. “We’ve had no hearings. We have no text,” he said. “I know that my friend Senator Bond is a man of faith. I think I am, too. But this is carrying it a little too far. We don’t know anything about this. I look forward to a piece of legislation that we can look at. Hopefully, it can be done tonight or tomorrow and we’ll look at it.” þþHe added: “But I want everyone to understand no matter how hard we work, how hard we try, the House of Representatives is going home tomorrow. O.K.? They’re leaving.” þþIf Congress adjourns without approving any aid and the Bush administration refuses to act, the automakers will have to wait until President-elect Barack Obama takes office on Jan. 20, and even then there are no guarantees.þþIt looks to be a rocky ride for the Big Three until then. G.M., for example, is using more than $2 billion in cash a month and may run short of the minimal level needed to operate by then.þþAlready, the blame game has begun. At the White House, the press secretary, Dana Perino, said Wednesday that the administration supported Mr. Bond’s proposal and chastised Mr. Reid for not holding a vote on it. þþShe said that if Congress leaves town without addressing the automakers’ plight, “then the Congress will bear responsibility for anything that happens in the next couple of months during their long vacation.ÿþþMr. Wagoner, in the interview, declined to say whether G.M. would be insolvent by the time the new administration comes in.þþ“Everybody is working like crazy to come up with additional cost savings. We’re going to do everything we can no matter what,” he said. “But the reason we’re down here now is we do think the time is urgent and the risk is high. We think it’s very high risk not to act now.”þþIn testimony on Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee, Mr. Wagoner and his counterpart at Chrysler, Robert L. Nardelli, said it was unlikely that their companies could survive much longer without emergency assistance. þþThe chief executive of Ford Motor, Alan R. Mulally, said his company had enough cash to last through 2009 but that a failure by G.M. or Chrysler could have catastrophic effects on the industry. þþThe four-hour hearing before the House committee raised many of the same concerns that were aired Tuesday’s hearing by the Senate Banking Committee.þþRepublicans attacked the automakers for failing to fix their business models until they were on the verge of disaster.þþ“A bailout, to me, raises fairness issues and does not solve the problem,” said Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the senior Republican on the committee. þþJeb Hensarling, Republican of Texas, was among the skeptics. “I need to be convinced that if you get the $25 billion that it will actually make a difference.” þþ
Source: NY Times
