UPDATE:White House 'Working Around The Clock' On Auto Situation
05 März 2009 - 7:35PM
Dow Jones News
The White House said it is "working around the clock" to address
the auto sector's woes, as fresh doubts emerged over General Motors
Corp.'s (GM) ability to survive without further help from the
government.
"The administration is very mindful of the challenges in the
auto sector," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Thursday. "Our
team is working around the clock to develop the most thoughtful
approach possible to the situation."
Earlier Thursday, GM's auditors said its continuing losses,
negative net worth and an inability to generate cash for continued
operations across its global operations raise substantial doubt it
can remain a going concern.
The warning was in GM's delayed 10-K filing with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, and the statement forced GM to seek
waivers from lenders.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday the decision whether to
provide further financial assistance to the auto companies was up
to the Obama administration.
But she said any assistance should be a "lifeline, not life
support" and any decision to provide more taxpayer cash to the
companies will be made only after it was determined they had a
viable recovery plan.
-By Henry J. Pulizzi and Corey Boles, Dow Jones Newswires;
202-862-9256; henry.pulizzi@dowjones.com
(Bhattiprolu Murti and Sharon Terlep contributed to this
report.)