On Friday, President Bush said the government would provide $17.4 billion in emergency loans to General Motors and Chrysler. In return, the carmakers have agreed to provide a restructuring plan by March 31 that would show they would survive, or they would be required to repay the loans.

President Bush: “There’s too great a risk that bankruptcy now would lead to a disorderly liquidation of American auto companies. My economic advisers believe that such a collapse would deal an unacceptably painful blow to hardworking Americans far beyond the auto industry. It would worsen a weak job market and exacerbate the financial crisis. It could send our suffering economy into a deeper and longer recession. And it would leave the next president to confront the demise of a major American industry in his first days of office.”