Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Senators Charles Schumer and Christopher Dodd offered conflicting opinions on the fate of the auto-rescue plan, with Schumer saying legislation would likely succeed with some Republican support and Dodd indicating the measure may not have the votes to pass.

``There will be some support on the Republican side'' during a session this month, Schumer, a New York Democrat, said at a news conference. ``Whether there will be enough support to override a presidential veto, that I don't know.''

Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said he would be careful about bringing up an auto-aid package that may fail in the Senate. ``I don't know of a single Republican who is willing to support'' such a plan, he told reporters.

At least one Republican senator, George Voinovich of Ohio, said today he supports giving aid to the automakers.

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC would receive $25 billion in loans under legislation being crafted by Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Senator Carl Levin of Michigan. The Bush administration opposes using any of a $700 billion financial-rescue package for automakers.

Democrats have a 51-49 majority in the Senate, and their gains from the Nov. 4 election won't take effect until January. The narrow division, combined with the ability of outgoing President George W. Bush to veto any bill, gives Republicans a better opportunity to block auto aid legislation than when Democrat Barack Obama becomes president Jan 20.

It wasn't Congress's intent to use money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to bail out automakers, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters traveling to New York today with Bush on Air Force One.

Paulson's Stance

Congress should come up with aid for automakers outside of the money already approved for the financial rescue, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, expects the Senate to consider help for the auto industry next week, said his spokesman, Jim Manley. ``But we cannot do it without the support of Senate Republicans,'' he said.

Ohio's Voinovich today said he supports using the financial-rescue aid for the auto industry, according to a statement by his spokesman, Chris Paulitz.

`Main Street'

Voinovich is working with Michigan's two Democratic senators on a letter to colleagues to make the aid ``a reality'' during the lame-duck session next week, Paulitz said. ``The senator believes helping the automakers remain viable is truly putting Main Street over Wall Street,'' he said.

Ohio's other senator, Democrat Sherrod Brown, who also supports auto aid, said in an interview the Senate ``probably'' will approve the assistance. ``I'm not counting votes,'' he said. ``I don't know if the votes are there yet.''

Obama is pushing Congress this year to approve as much as $50 billion in aid for automakers and appoint a czar or board to oversee the companies, people familiar with the matter said. Obama is resigning his Senate seat effective Nov. 16, which will further narrow Democrats' majority.

It is ``highly uncertain'' whether Congress will pass a bailout package this year, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Patrick Archambault wrote in a research note today.

Frank said yesterday his bill, to be unveiled Nov. 18, would aid automakers with funds from the financial rescue package. Chief executive officers of GM, Ford and Chrysler, and the United Auto Workers president, have been invited to testify at a Nov. 19 hearing, said Frank's spokesman, Steve Adamske.

`Personal Sacrifice'

In a letter to the CEOs, Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa urged the automaker chiefs to cut their compensation and ``be the first employees of your companies to make a personal sacrifice.''

GM's Rick Wagoner, Ford's Alan Mulally and Chrysler's Robert Nardelli should emulate former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca, who chopped his annual pay to $1 when the automaker sought federal assistance in 1979, Grassley wrote.

House Republican leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said he opposes the aid and that any funds should be conditioned on plans by the companies to strengthen their finances.

``Spending billions of additional federal tax dollars with no promises to reform the root causes crippling automakers' competitiveness around the world is neither fair to taxpayers nor sound fiscal policy,'' Boehner said in a statement.

The $25 billion in Energy Department loans Congress approved earlier this year could be a viable way to address the auto industry's problems, said Don Stewart, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican.

The Energy Department has received two applications for low-interest loans from companies in the auto industry, agency spokesman Andrew Beck said. He declined to name the companies or size of the requests.

Repaying Loans

Representative Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the top Republican on Frank's Financial Services Committee, said aid shouldn't be approved unless companies can pay it back by taking steps such as renegotiating labor contracts.

``General Motors is hemorrhaging money,'' Bachus said on Bloomberg Television. ``Unless there are operational changes, unless the union and the management sits down and changes some of the work rules, you're going to see it continue to hemorrhage money.''

Nardelli said at a conference in Palm Desert, California, that ``it would be very difficult to make it through this unprecedented downturn'' without help.

Cerberus Capital Management LP, the buyout firm that owns Chrysler, would forgo any profit from a future sale of the automaker should it receive federal financial aid, he said.

GM is having a harder time selling $4 billion in assets after saying it may run out of cash, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

Potential buyers are concerned that the units, including the Hummer sport-utility vehicle brand, would lose value should GM fail, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are confidential. The divisions being unloaded all would rely on Detroit-based GM as a partner after a sale.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Hughes in Washington at Jhughes5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 13, 2008 18:47 EST