Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Treasury drafted broad guidelines for aid to the auto industry that would let officials provide funds to any company they deem important to making or financing cars.

The Treasury already has provided $6 billion in aid to GMAC LLC, the financing arm of General Motors Corp., and up to $17.4 billion in financing for GM and Chrysler LLC, using funds from the $700 billion bank-rescue package.

With today’s announcement, the Treasury is giving itself discretion to provide additional aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to the industry, including companies beyond the automakers themselves.

“Treasury will determine the form, terms and conditions of any investment made pursuant to this program on a case-by-case basis,” the Treasury said in the new guidelines.

“Treasury may consider, among other things, the importance of the institution to production by, or financing of, the American automotive industry,” the guidelines said.

The government also will weigh “whether a major disruption of the institution’s operations would likely have a materially adverse effect on employment and thereby produce negative spillover effects on economic performance” or on credit markets, the Treasury said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Rebecca Christie in Washington at Rchristie4@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: December 31, 2008 14:00 EST