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WASHINGTON: Contrite US automaker bosses have admitted errors and agreed to strict government oversight, but their pleas to sceptical senators still won no guarantees of a US$34-billion bailout.
After top executives of the Big Three car giants endured a sapping near-six-hour grilling, top Democratic Senator Chris Dodd said he would try to mount a last-gasp bid to stave off a "death sentence" for the industry.
But President George W. Bush said Chrysler, General Motors and Ford must prove their long-term viability to open a spigot for government cash, reflecting the tense political sparring over the iconic firms' fate.
Backers of the bailout warn that the failure of one or more of the top auto manufacturers could severely batter the already reeling US economy and would wipe out millions of jobs which rely on the industry.
"Nothing concentrates the mind like a death sentence," Dodd said, but cautioned he was not a "miracle worker" and said Congress was not about to simply write a no-strings-attached check for US$34 billion.
It remained unclear however whether the votes yet exist to pass a bailout and Bush's intervention cast further doubt on the rescue plan.
"No matter how important the autos are to our economy, we don't want to put good money after bad," Bush said.
"In other words, we want to make sure that the plan they develop is one that ensures their long-term viability for the sake of the taxpayer."
Democrats want the White House to tap an already approved US$700-billion finance industry bailout to rescue the auto firms.
But the Bush administration insists the money should come at least partially from diverting US$25 billion in loans to the industry which are designed to spur development of fuel-efficient vehicles.
Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid wrote to the president on Thursday asking him to change his mind, and said they may call Congress back from a recess next week to consider rescue plans.
Some lawmakers say the cash-strapped firms should consider bankruptcy protection while they restructure, but executives argued such a move would kill consumer confidence.
Earlier, the car bosses put on a show of humility at the Senate Banking Committee hearing, after being sent back to Detroit to retool their restructuring plans two weeks ago.
They pledged to cut jobs and costs, sell off subsidiaries, shelve unprofitable models and develop cars which run on new-generation fuels, and on Thursday offered to submit their restructuring to a federal oversight board.
"We're here today because we made mistakes, and we're here because forces beyond our control have pushed us to the brink," GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner told the Senate committee.
Ford CEO Alan Mulally added: "Since the last hearing, I have thought a great deal about the concerns you expressed. I want you to know I heard your message loud and clear."
United Auto Workers chief Ron Gettelfinger warned time was short.
"I believe that we could lose GM by the end of the month," he said.
But Moody's Economy.com chief economist Mark Zandi testified the true cost of a bailout would be much higher than US$34 billion, estimating the eventual outlay at US$75-125 billion.
The committee's top Republican, Senator Richard Shelby, stuck to his opposition to a bailout.
"A lot of people believe sincerely that the restructuring plans that each of your companies has provided us are not a serious set of plans," he said.
Another Republican, Senator Bob Corker, told the executives "no thinking person thinks that all three companies can survive."
In a belated public relations exercise, the executives, pilloried for swooping into the first hearing in corporate jets, drove more than 500 miles from Detroit in fuel-efficient cars.
Wagoner requested a second US$4-billion loan by January in addition to an already requested immediate US$4-billion rescue payment.
Both payments would come from GM's request for US$12 billion in short-term loans and a US$6-billion line of credit requested by the firm.
Mulally argued Ford's restructuring program was already working, but asked for a US$9-billion line of credit in case the economy worsens.
Chrysler said it needed US$7 billion by December 31.
The Big Three bosses must repeat their ordeal for the House Financial Service committee on Friday.
- AFP/yb
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