The White House said Steven Rattner is joining the Treasury Department as Counselor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, confirming a report earlier Monday in the Wall Street Journal.

Rattner, co-founder of private-equity firm Quadrangle Group, will lead a team advising the Obama administration on the troubled automobile sector.

The task force is primarily charged with administering a $17.4 billion bailout of General Motors Corp. (GM) and Chrysler LLC and deciding whether the two auto makers should continue receiving government aid. That aid could come in the form of more loans, or financing for a bankruptcy filing.

The two companies could need nearly $40 billion in financing to survive, including up to $5 billion in March just to pay bills to suppliers and other creditors.

In addition to deciding what to do with the auto makers, Rattner is expected to help decide what action needs to be taken to help out hundreds of auto suppliers that are short on liquidity.

-By Henry J. Pulizzi, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256; henry.pulizzi@dowjones.com

(John Stoll of the Wall Street Journal contributed to this report.)