Auto Rescue Plan Advances as Congress, White House Near Deal

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• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Even as the Bush administration and congressional Democrats move closer to a deal on how to help the big three automakers, it is still not clear if a rescue package would have the votes in Congress to pass, especially in the Senate.

  For a closer look at the prospects for emergency aid to Detroit, I'm joined by Amy Walter, editor-in-chief of the Hotline, National Journal's political daily; and David Herszenhorn, he's a reporter for the New York Times..

  David, first of all, bring us up to date on where these negotiations stand. Who's talking to whom?

• DAVID HERSZENHORN, New York Times:

  Well, the White House has representatives over at the Capitol right now. They're in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's offices, and they're talking about the differences that the White House has with the Democrats over the particulars in this package, which really, after a long weekend, finally got delivered, the draft legislation, to the White House this afternoon.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  And what is the main debate? We know there's legislation now that's been drafted, $15 billion in loans. What are the main outlines of it?

• DAVID HERSZENHORN:

  Well, apparently, the White House has not commented formally, but what we understand is that there are some concerns that they have over real particulars in this legislation.

  First of all, there's a requirement that the auto companies would have to drop a lawsuit that they have in California against emission standards.

  There are also concerns about exactly how this so-called "car czar" would enforce the requirements in the bill. The main ability, it seems, would be to call back the emergency loans for immediate repayment. And there's some disagreement over whether to set a definite date for that or exactly how to carry that out.

  But Barney Frank, the congressman from Massachusetts, who's been a key player here, says he thinks all that can be resolved tonight and that there should be a tentative deal between the Democrats and the White House.

  But as you said, there's some question about whether the votes will be there in the Senate.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  And again, quickly, David, a sense of who's on which side in all of this?

• DAVID HERSZENHORN:

  Well, everybody is, you know, sort of on the same side, in that there's not much appetite for doing another big corporate bailout.

  At the same time, there's a recognition that letting one or more of these auto companies fail would be disastrous, given the current economic circumstances.

  So the White House has really been working with the congressional Democrats, the Senate Republicans waiting to see what those talks produce. And tomorrow morning, we should have a better indication from the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, about where he stands.