OF1-12/05/08 6:25 AM
BIG THREE AUTOMAKERS FIGHT "BAILOUT FATIGUE."
The Osgood File. I'm Charles Osgood.

Members of Congressional banking committees think like bankers, talk and act like bankers.

When it was the heads of big banks and other such financial institutions sitting before them, the committee members spoke the language of bankers --- with hardly any stings attached at all, came through time after time --- 50 billion here, 100 billion there, hundreds of billions: "How would you like these, sir --- loan guarantees? 10s? 20s? Coming right up, sir. We'll try not to get in your hair too much..."

But when it's the heads of American car companies --- GM, Ford, and Chrysler --- looking for 34 billion, they use a somewhat different tone: bankers' tone. Both Republicans...

SOT - Sen. Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama --- top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee
"If you made this presentation to get a bank loan, I suspect that any sensible banker would summarily dismiss your request."

...And Democrats.

SOT - Sen. Christopher Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut --- chairman of the Senate Banking Committee
"Nothing concentrates the mind like a death sentence, and we're looking at a death sentence here..."

The car company heads have come back to Washington to try to do what they'd been asked to by Congress to get the money they need, and to respond to the sharp criticism.

SOT - Alan Mulally, Ford CEO
"You were clear that the business model needs to change. I couldn't agree more."

That was Ford's Alan Mulally. He and the others were asking for the reprieve, not only for their own companies' sake...

SOT - Alan Mulally
"We are woven into the fabric of every community that relies on our cars and trucks --- and the jobs our company supports."

Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, is trying now to get the Bush Administration to tap the billions in Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to spare the companies without Congress having to appropriate more.

SOT - Sen. Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan

"The money's there. It's been appropriated. They have the authority to use it..."

If it's the banks and financial institutions you care about, he says...

SOT - Sen. Carl Levin
"The banks and the financial sector would be threatened if the Big Three go under, because the large issuance of bonds which they've all made would be severely in jeopardy."
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The Osgood File. Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network.
The Osgood File. December 5th, 2008.