| | Protesters chant 'bailout is a sellout' as Big 3 execs testify
 Protesters were escorted from a Senate hearing room Thursday, chanting "the bailout is a sellout" as executives from the Big Three automakers requested $34 billion in taxpayer funds they said was necessary to prevent collapse.
About 18 people were escorted from the Senate Banking Committee hearing.
"The bailout is a sellout. The poor are suffering ... the homeless, the hungry, they're suffering," the protesters chanted as Capitol Police escorted them from the room.
Before the outburst, Sen. John Thune (D-MT) was questioning the auto executives and criticizing President Bush's policies.
"I hope this doesn't count against my time," he quipped.
It's unclear who organized the protesters, but none appeared to be dressed in the rosy garb that has been a trademark of Code Pink, the anti-war group that regularly interrupts House and Senate hearings with protests.
Video of the protests will be posted here soon.
Auto execs beg for aidExecutives from Ford, GM and Chrysler pressed their case for a bailout.
The executives returned to Capitol Hill two weeks after their initial appeal for a government rescue ended in humiliation at the hands of congressional leaders who ordered them back to Detroit to reframe restructuring plans.
"It's fair to say that last month's hearings were difficult for us ... but we learned a lot," General Motors Corp Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner told the Senate Banking Committee in prepared testimony.
"We're here today because we made mistakes, and we're here because forces beyond our control have pushed us to the brink."
Ford CEO Alan Mulally also attempted to show contrition before his grilling by the panel of senators.
"Since the last hearing, I have thought a great deal about the concerns you expressed. I want you to know I heard your message loud and clear."
Robert Nardelli, CEO of Chrysler, argued his firm's already advanced restructuring and cost cuts had been plunged into uncertainty by outside economic factors.
"We're here because the financial crisis that started in 2007 and accelerated at the end of the second quarter in 2008.
"As consumer confidence fell and credit markets remained frozen, the lowest US auto sales in more than 20 years has put tremendous pressure on our cash position."
Banking committee chairman Senator Chris Dodd said a failure to take action would amount to playing "Russian roulette" with the US economy.
"We need to act, not for the purpose of protecting a handful of companies. If that were the extent of the issue -- I would let them fail.
"Inaction is no solution."
But the committee's top Republican Senator Richard Shelby, who opposes the bailout, questioned the debt-laden firm's restructuring plans and asked whether they were ready to use the crisis as an opportunity to change.
"I have my doubts," he said.
Democratic leaders have raised the prospect of recalling Congress for a vote on a rescue next week but it remained unclear whether there was sufficient support in Congress to pass a rescue plan.
In a belated public relations exercise, the executives, pilloried for swooping into the first hearing in corporate jets, drove more than 500 miles from Detroit in fuel-efficient cars.
Democrats want the White House to tap an already approved 700 billion dollar finance industry bailout to rescue the auto firms.
But the Bush administration insists the money should come from a 25 billion dollars in loans designed to spur development of fuel efficient vehicles.
Wagoner gave fresh evidence of the precarious state of his company, requesting a second four billion dollar loan by January in addition to an already requested immediate four billion dollar rescue payment.
Both payments would come from GM's request for 12 billion dollars in short-term loans and a six billion dollar line of credit requested by the firm.
On Wednesday, United Auto Workers (UAW) president Ron Gettelfinger said his union was willing to delay billions in dollars of payments to a health care fund and suspending provisions of the union's contract for laid-off workers.
The about-face, after the union earlier ruled out more sacrifices, illustrated the gravity of the crisis with around three million jobs at stake.
GM and Chrysler warn they could run out of cash within a matter of weeks without billions of dollars in low-cost, government-backed loans.
Neither automaker expects they would be able to survive if they were forced into bankruptcy protection and the ripple effects of their failure would be felt across the country as auto supplies and related companies unravel.
Mulally argued Ford's restructuring program was already working well and said it might pull through on its own and return to profitability by 2011, but asked for a nine billion dollar line of credit in case the economy worsens.
In its restructuring plan, Chrysler said it needed seven billion dollars by December 31 if it was to survive global credit crisis, falling demand for large vehicles and a global economic slump.
The fate of the key industry is a key early test of the incoming administration of president-elect Barack Obama, who has warned he is not prepared to write the companies a blank check.
With wire reports
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