Aid deal for 2 carmakers could reach $15 billion
WASHINGTON — The White House gave troubled Detroit automakers public reassurances Monday that short-term government help was in the works as a key senator suggested the aid package could reach $15 billion for two companies.
General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have said they could run out of cash within weeks without support from the government.
Vice President Dick Cheney, in an interview with conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, said the auto industry’s woes came at an "especially bad time" because of the slowdown of the financial markets.
"We’re on the downside of a recession that may be the worst since World War II. And if the automobile industry goes belly up now, there’s a deep concern that that would be a major shock to the system," Cheney said.
President George W. Bush already had told reporters aboard Air Force One during a surprise weekend trip to Iraq and Afghanistan that the administration was "now in the process of working with the stakeholders on a way forward"
In Detroit, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he expects GM to get $8 billion and Chrysler $7 billion under the Bush administration’s plan emergency payday loan. He said the Treasury secretary likely would be tapped as a "car czar" to oversee restructuring of the companies.
The administration, following the defeat of a $14 billion bailout package in the Senate last week, is considering several options. They include using money from a $700 billion financial bailout fund to provide loans to the carmakers or using money from the fund as collateral for emergency loans the automakers could get from the Federal Reserve.
Japanese automakers feel our pain Stocks stumble amid manufacturing woesFiled under: technology by Forest