Automaker loans to be part of bailout

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Billions of dollars in loans slated for U.S. automakers seem likely to go through as Congress moves to bail out the banking industry, industry players say.

Lobbyists for the auto industry, including the chief executives of General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., fanned out across Washington this week as the White House and congressional leaders crafted a plan to rescue teetering Wall Street institutions caught in a liquidity crisis, The Detroit News reported Saturday.

Their efforts appear to have paid off, with industry analysts telling the News it now seems likely the $25 billion in low-cost loans promised to the auto industry as part of last year's Energy Independence and Security Act will be funded as part of a massive bailout planned for the banking industry.

That belief helped buoy GM stock, which on Friday soared nearly 15 percent to $13.08.

"What's $25 billion when you've got $500 billion on the line?" analyst Joe Phillippi of AutoTrends Consulting Inc. told the newspaper. "The automakers were in line first. This is going to tend to increase the pressure on Congress to get cracking."