Bipartisan group works to revive auto bailout

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of auto-state senators reached a last-ditch compromise Thursday to throw Detroit's Big Three a government lifeline worth billions, but the plan faces an uphill battle in a reluctant Senate.

With the auto bailout stalled, the fate of hundreds of thousands of workers and Detroit's once-venerable car companies hangs in the balance.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., canceled plans for a vote on a bill to carve $25 billion in new loans out of the $700 billion Wall Street rescue fund. The Bush administration and congressional Republicans oppose that plan.

Warning of economic disaster, Democrats and Republicans from auto industry states reached a deal Thursday on an alternative package that would temporarily divert money from a fuel-efficiency loan program to cover the Big Three's immediate costs. But it was unclear whether it could draw enough support to pass.

The group, led by Sens. Carl M. Levin, D-Mich. and Kit Bond, R-Mo., scheduled a news conference to announce details.

Even if agreement can be reached to consider their plan, Reid signaled earlier Thursday that the Senate was not likely do so until after Thanksgiving.

"We have some procedural roadblocks," Reid said.

With all sides sensing doom for a Big Three automaker rescue, the finger-pointing proceeded.

White House press secretary Dana Perino on Thursday blamed Reid for not allowing the Republicans' separate auto-aid plan to come up for a vote.

"Unfortunately it looks like Sen. Reid just wants to pick up his ball and go home for the next two weeks — two months — for vacation," she said.

Pressed on what the White House would do if Congress can't agree on a plan to rescue the automakers this week, Perino said she thought lawmakers would return after the Thanksgiving holiday for an emergency legislative session if an auto company was in imminent danger of collapsing.

"I can't imagine a scenario where they wouldn't come back, unless the answer is that they just don't care. And if that's the case, then the American people ought to know that."

Congressional Democrats countered that the Treasury Department already had the power to grant emergency funds to the automakers, but the Bush administration opposed the approach.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney stood steadfastly behind forces opposing the bailout.