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Aide: Bush willing to use TARP funds to aid automakers

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-12 23:35

The Bush administration would consider using money from a fund intended to rescue US financial markets to prevent the collapse of the nation's auto companies, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

President George W. Bush walks from the Oval Office, December 12, 2008, for a trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and then onto Texas to give the commencement address at Texas A&M University. [Agencies]

"Under normal economic conditions we would prefer that markets determine the ultimate fate of private firms," Perino told reporters aboard Air Force One. "However give the current weakened state of the US economy we will consider other options if necessary, including use of the TARP program to prevent a collapse of troubled automakers."

Related readings:  Analysis: Automakers have tougher sell than banks  US auto bailout crashes; stocks, dollar fall  $14B US auto bailout dies in Senate  World markets plunge as US auto bailout fails

General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have said they need a total of US$14 billion in loans to keep operating. An aid package for the automakers failed in the Senate last night.

Bush was pressed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to tap funds from the Treasury's US$700 billion bank-rescue fund.

The Bush administration had warned of a million lost jobs if the industry imploded. The Senate vote was a repudiation of Bush, who personally lobbied for the bill. Only 10 Republicans in the Senate voted to move forward on the auto-rescue plan.