Administration still working on bailout

A key senator says the relief package could reach $15 billion for GM and Chrysler

AP

WASHINGTON. Detroit automakers, teetering on the brink of collapse, are receiving strong signals from the House that short-term help is on the way.

President Bush said a bankruptcy in the U.S. auto industry would hurt the economy AS the U.S. deals with the recession. "An abrupt bankruptcy for autos could be devastating for the economy," Bush said Monday aboard Air Force One during a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said they were "now in the process of working with the stakeholders on a way forward."

In Detroit, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he expects GM to get $8 billion and Chrysler $7 billion from the Bush administration. He said the Treasury secretary likely would be tapped as a "car czar" to oversee restructuring of the companies.

Bush wouldn't give a precise timetable but said, "This will not be a long process because of the economic fragility of the autos."

Vice President Dick Cheney, in an interview with Rush Limbaugh, cautioned that "if the automobile industry goes belly up now, there's a deep concern that that would be a major shock to the system."

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