Paulson cool to auto company help

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged Congress to modify already-passed legislation to help the auto companies rather than expect him to buy stock.

Under questioning from U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., during a hearing Tuesday of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Paulson declined to provide a yes or no answer to the question of whether he would buy preferred stock in the Big Three automakers as he did in the case of banks.

"Regarding autos, what we've said is Congress has acted. You have a bill that passed. I urge you to modify that," Paulson said, referring to legislation that was supposed to help automakers pay for retooling to produce more fuel-efficient cars.

Sherman argued, however, the $700 billion bailout bill is broad enough to allow Treasury to provide direct aid to automakers.