Bush: Economy reason to help automakers

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The weak U.S. economy provides a powerful argument for congressional support of $14 billion in automaker aid, a White House spokeswoman said Thursday.

President George Bush has been contacting congressional members, urging them to support the measure, press secretary Dana Perino said during a news briefing.

The proposal would, among other things, provide $14 billion to cash-strapped General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC in the form of short-term loans. In addition, the measure would set out terms for Ford Motor Co., which has said it needs a $9 billion credit line. It also would direct Bush to name a "car czar" to monitor the automakers' progress in their return to private, self-sustaining status.

The House passed the measure, but now it is stalled in the Senate.

"(We) believe that the economy is in such a weakened state right now that adding another possible loss of 1 million jobs is just something our economy cannot sustain at the moment," she said.

Requiring the companies to either fundamentally restructure and become viable or be forced to enter bankruptcy protection in an orderly fashion is preferable to potential liquidation, she said.

"The economy is in a very weakened state," Perino said. "We have to do things at the federal government level that we wouldn't normally want to do."