December 16, 2008

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd said on Monday he was confident the U.S. government would help U.S. auto makers with bridging loans to survive the financial crisis.He said it was possible the government would use the so-called TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) fund to bail out the main U.S. car manufacturers.

"These companies are burning through cash at an incredible rate," he said."What the loans do is to allow them to survive basically into the first quarter, particularly in the case of GM (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and to some degree Chrysler LLC as well," he told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Dublin.

"Ford (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is in fairly good shape in the short term," he said.U.S. President George W. Bush said earlier on Monday an announcement on a auto industry rescue was not imminent. A Treasury Department spokeswoman said department officials were reviewing information from the auto industry and no decisions had been made yet about a rescue plan.