Business leaders began to express some concerns about the emerging plan, including the idea of an oversight board.

In a statement Monday, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President, Thomas J. Donohue said Congress should not “give control of three competing car companies to an oversight board of inexperienced members.”

Donohue also argued that lawmakers should not insist on changes in management at the companies — a day after Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd , D-Conn., said that General Motors Corp. CEO Richard Wagoner should “move on.”

“Congress must not insist on measures — such as immediate changes to management — that will undercut the carmakers’ ability to return to profitability as soon as possible. Changing horses in midstream is never a good idea, especially during a crisis,” the Chamber said.

Donahue urged Congress to quickly pass a package of bridge loans for automakers, and asked the Federal Reserve to open up its discount window to automakers’ financing arms.

Perino said that the White House had proposed a “financial viability adviser,” who would be named by the president, with the “authority to negotiate a credible viability plan with automakers seeking assistance. So, for example, if an automaker comes to the government seeking assistance, we will make short-term financing available, providing that the automakers and the stakeholders, like the UAW, agree to negotiate with the adviser in good faith and on a credible plan for long-term viability.”

Perino said that under that proposal, at the end of the short-term loan period, the administrator would “report on whether the automaker is executing a credible plan for long-term viability. And if he or she determines that they are indeed, and progress is being made in negotiations, then additional assistance could be made available at that time.”

“If the talks, however, are not headed in that direction and if that fails, then the FVA will submit an alternative viability plan that would involve restructuring through Chapter 11 and require automakers to repay the government the amount of their short-term bridge financing,” Perino added. “So long-term financing in this case would only be made available subject to the approval of this new adviser.”

Reid said the bill would include restrictions on executive pay and a prohibition on dividends from firms accepting the loans.

Tough Task for Leaders

Still, with the Senate set to return in lame-duck session on Monday and the House planning to reconvene on Tuesday, congressional leaders were facing a difficult week as they attempt to round up votes for yet another corporate bailout from skeptical members of both parties.

If a deal is struck, the Senate will probably act first on the loan package, though no final decisions have been made, according to a Senate aide. Typically, if the Senate can come up with the 60 votes needed to surmount potential filibusters,

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky., said that as negotiations continued this week, Republicans would insist that the legislation require the Big Three to agree to “significant and fundamental reform.”

”Any assistance from Congress would hold the auto industry accountable to essential reforms from Day One and it would include enforcement capabilities, including strict, immediate accountability and oversight,” McConnell said.

Perino confirmed that the package would likely total about $15 billion. Democratic aides have said the figure will be between $15 billion and $17 billion.

On Sunday, Christopher J. Dodd , D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said that General Motors Corp. chief executive Richard Wagoner would likely have to be replaced as a condition for government aid. “I think he has to move on,” Dodd said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Dodd said he thinks there will be enough support to pass a short-term loan package, which he portrayed as the precursor to a broader, government-supervised restructuring of the domestic auto industry that would occur next year.

But top auto industry ally Sen. Carl Levin , D-Mich., said on “Fox News Sunday” that while he is confident a deal is close, it is “a much more complicated question as to whether the votes are there.”

The aid would be far smaller than the $700 billion financial industry bailout program (PL 110-343) enacted two months ago and only about half the $34 billion the automakers asked for last week. But beyond Rust Belt states, where GM, Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. are vital employers, many Republicans remain reluctant to assist the automakers.

Appearing on the same show as Levin, Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Banking Committee whose state is home to plants run by foreign automakers, said that he would “absolutely not” support an auto bailout, saying “I think this is a bridge loan to nowhere” and “a down payment on many bills to come.”

Some lawmakers, primarily Republicans, have suggested bankruptcy would be a better route for the ailing automotive giants.

But Dodd said there are “real problems” with the idea of a pre-packaged bankruptcy, adding that a short-term loan package would “get us to the point where we can . . . create something similar to that to empower a board or individuals to come in and do the kind of restructuring before the auto industry would get any additional help at all.”

“The problem is we’ve got 48 or 72 hours and all of us are not experts in this area,” Dodd said, noting that a broad industry restructuring will require some time, and that a short-term deal must be passed quickly to save the automakers from collapse.

Obama Weighs In

President-elect Barack Obama said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he has directed his team of advisers to “have conversations” with key players in the bailout negotiations “to see how can you keep the automakers’ feet to the fire in making the changes that are necessary?”

“We don’t want government to run companies,” he added. “Generally, government historically hasn’t done that very well. What we do need is, if taxpayer money is at stake ... we want to make sure that it is conditioned on an auto industry emerging at the end of the process that actually works, that actually functions. “

Laying the Groundwork

Congressional and White House negotiators appear to be focusing on using funds from an existing Energy Department loan program (PL 110-140) created in 2007 — the source preferred by the White House and reluctantly embraced by Pelosi late Friday.

Pelosi wants the package to include a provision prohibiting the Big Three from using the federal loan money to oppose state fuel emissions rules, according to a Democratic aide, although the language has not yet been agreed to by all sides. She has also demanded that the money for the Energy Department program, originally established to help Detroit comply with new fuel-economy standards, be replenished promptly.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., has said that he will bring a “shell bill” to the floor Monday to get the process moving. The House is expected to reconvene on Tuesday.

Stopgap Funding

Democratic leaders appear to trying to keep the Big Three in business into the new year, and perhaps through March, so the incoming Obama administration and Congress can begin work on a broader industry restructuring deal.

While GM requested a total of $18 billion in loans and credit in its latest presentation, the company said it needs an immediate $4 billion loan to stay solvent through Dec. 31, and $6 billion more to keep operating through March. Chrysler said it needs $7 billion by the end of the year to avoid bankruptcy. Though Ford requested access to a total of $9 billion in long-term loans, it said it might not need any of that money unless conditions worsen or its competitors go under.

A bipartisan group of auto-state members led by Levin introduced legislation (S 3715) last month that sought to redirect the $25 billion Energy Department loan program to support bridge loans to the auto industry, with repayments going to the original program to appease Democrats.

But because of that repayment provision, the arcane rules governing federal loan programs would limit the amount of bridge loans under that legislation to only the $7.5 billion Congress has already appropriated for the Energy Department program, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That is far less than the industry needs immediately to stave off collapse.

The amount could be increased if the bill is modified, but that raises political problems.

If the provision repaying the loans to the Energy program is dropped, CBO said the existing appropriation would be enough to support $15 billion in loans. Dropping that provision, however, would mean gutting, or at the very least stalling, the Energy program that Democrats want to protect.

Regardless of what is done, CBO’s analysis shows that the cost of new lending to the automakers has gone up in recent months because their financial condition has deteriorated.

Benton Ives contributed to this report.