Democrats demand Big 3 offer survival plan

By Kevin Drawbaugh and John Crawley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic congressional leaders seeking to salvage a bailout of the Big Three automakers demanded car executives provide a business survival plan on Thursday in exchange for their support for up to $25 billion in loans.

Democrats acknowledged growing public resentment over government bailouts of U.S. business in slowing the automakers' drive for aid, instead saying they will take a look after the auto industry provides a roadmap to its survival.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told a crowded news conference on Capitol Hill that the automakers must develop a bailout proposal by December 2 and that it would be considered during the week of December 8.

"Until we can see a plan where the auto industry is held accountable and a plan for viability on how they go into the future... we cannot show them the money," Pelosi said.

Said Reid: "We can only help if they (the automakers) are willing to help themselves."

Providing a glimmer of hope, a group of U.S. senators said it reached a bipartisan agreement on a bill to bail out auto industry.

The White House said President George W. Bush could support the proposal spearheaded by Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, and Sen. Christopher Bond, a Missouri Republican, to allow automakers to use $25 billion in Energy Department loans for greener cars to address their current crisis.

Hanging in the balance is the future of General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler LLC, whose losses have mounted during a severe economic downturn that has prompted Americans to largely stop buying cars.