$15B Could Help Automakers Now, But How About Later?

— -- An industry that relies on deals is on the verge of closing its biggest ever.

Crafting of legislation to funnel $15 billion in emergency loans to General Motors and Chrysler was in its final stages Tuesday. Though the beleaguered car companies are in no position to argue, the bill assumes they have made serious mistakes and need a government-run overhaul to avoid financial thin ice again.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi touted the notion of a 'car czar' to supervise an auto industry bailout, saying Tuesday that Big Three executives haven't adapted well to changing conditions.

"I think it's very important," Pelosi told NBC's "Today" show, because little would be accomplished if company executives are "left to their own devices."

"Well, whether we need it or not, I think it's reasonable that when the federal government steps in with taxpayer money, they're not going to ... lend us the money and just say, 'Do the best you can with it and tell us when you need more,' " said Robert Lutz, GM's vice president of global product development. "Obviously, there's going to be some kind of oversight and I think that's a reasonable thing to expect," he said on CBS's "The Early Show."

Just getting the outline of a deal required hurdling strong arguments in Congress and elsewhere that the government should let the weakest auto companies fail, then help pick up the pieces, if necessary.

"I have my doubts how this can be fixed, short of a bankruptcy," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said Monday afternoon while arguing against any bailout loans.

He said a bailout would be like enabling an alcoholic to keep drinking via well-meaning but eventually destructive handouts.

Others in Congress have complained they've had too little time to study the auto industry deeply and worry there won't be proper controls on the loan money.

Still, lawmakers and the White House seemed swayed by the enormity of potential damage. As calculated in the proposed bill, the loans would protect 355,000 U.S. auto jobs and an additional 4.5 million in related industries. It also would safeguard retirement and health care benefits for a million retirees and dependents.

Sessions' anti-bailout view is easy to understand. His state is home to Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai manufacturing plants, which build products that compete with Detroit automakers.