Auto bailout bill not yet a done deal

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A late meeting on Capitol Hill of congressional Democratic staff and staff from the White House on the proposed $15 billion in loans to Detroit's Big Three automakers broke up Tuesday evening with two senior Senate Democratic aides involved in the talks reporting progress on several key issues but no done deal yet.
Congressional Democrats first sent the proposal, which aims to provide struggling automakers General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Chrysler LLC with cash needed to get them through the year, to the White House on Monday.
Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) is also eligible for part of the loan but the company has previously said it would only want access to the funds as a backstop.
The two key issues remaining to be resolved involve whether to block the auto companies from suing states over their greenhouse gas emission standards and how the bill can ensure taxpayers can get repaid for loans to Chrysler, a privately held company, in the event the company goes bankrupt.
Congressional Democrats want to add language they can reach up to the holding company, Cerberus Capital Management, if that happens, but the White House is "pushing back" according to one Democratic aide.
The talks did resolve two sticking points. One dealt with a provision that any expenditure by the three companies over $25 million would have to have to get prior government approval. To satisfy some Republicans who considered the requirement too cumbersome, the dollar amount was raised to $100 million.
The other change involved language to ensure the government would revoke the loans if the companies weren't restructuring in a way the government found satisfactory. The legislative text was changed to say in the event that happens, the government "shall" revoke the loans from "could" revoke them.
"The hammer is the loans get called," said one of the aides.
More talks were possible late night Tuesday after the latest draft of the bill was circulated to key lawmakers, one of the aides said.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said Tuesday night that "a great deal of progress has been made on auto legislation that will protect the taxpayer and ensure that short-term financing is available only to companies prepared to undertake the dramatic restructuring necessary to become viable and competitive."
Perino added that the White House planned to "continue to work with Congress to finalize legislation the President can support."
Both the House and Senate were prepared to take up the legislation as early as Wednesday but a decision hasn't been made about which chamber will vote first.
In the Senate, a group of fiscally conservative Republicans were set to announce Wednesday they would try to filibuster the bill. However, it is not clear if the handful of senators can block the bill -- although they should be able to drag out final passage through the weekend.
GOP Senator John Ensign said Tuesday he will filibuster the auto bailout unless there are major changes in the compromise that Democrats and the White House are close to forging.
An Ensign aide tells CNN that he will hold a press conference at noon Wednesday with about half a dozen GOP senators who intend to support his move.
It is important to note that even GOP opponents concede that the auto bailout may likely have the 60 votes to pass, but these GOP senators are trying to "slow the trains down to make a point," according to the Ensign aide.
South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint, who plans to appear with Ensign at Wednesday's press conference, said he fully supports "extending debate" on the auto bailout legislation.
"This bailout will hurt taxpayers, it won't help the economy, and it will prevent these car companies from becoming competitive. The only way for the automakers to survive is a complete restructuring that allows them to break free from the stranglehold of union bosses," said DeMint.
Not all Senators opposed to the Detroit bailout bill support a filibuster. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), said Tuesday he thought a filibuster would be unnecessary since he believes Democrats will likely have the 60 votes to pass the auto loan anyway.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has threatened to keep the Senate through the weekend to complete the bailout.
"The ball is in the Republicans' court about when we vote," said a senior Democratic leadership aide.
"We hope to hear more soon about whether they will give us consent to do this quickly or insist that we run out the clock. In short, we will be in as long as it takes to complete action on this."
Senate Republicans will hold a previously planned lunch meeting Wednesday where they will have an intense discussion about the auto bailout.
CNN Congressional Producers Ted Barrett and Deirdre Walsh and Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash contributed to this report.
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