Emergency aid for US carmakers reached
The outline of the package was reached after car executives pleaded with lawmakers for help and US data showed employers axed more than 533,000 jobs in November, the highest monthly job-loss in 34 years.
“Congressional Democrats and the White House have reached an agreement," a senior congressional aide said. Another source said negotiators had “agreed in principle to moving ahead but details have to be worked out."
The amount is far less than the $34bn requested this week by General Motors, Ford Motor, and Chrysler, but it would keep them going into next year.
Earlier, Nancy Pelosi, US House of Representatives speaker, had dropped her insistence that aid come from the $700bn financial services bailout fund that the Bush administration had refused to use for automakers.