Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp.’s lead independent director, George Fisher, said he expects U.S. officials to end a deadlock on financing an industry rescue and keep GM alive until President-elect Barack Obama takes office.

The board continues to “fully” support Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner and his top management team, Fisher, 68, said today in an interview. GM said yesterday that without federal loans, it won’t have enough operating cash to reach the end of this month.

“There is a belief, stronger than a hope, that some very smart people in Washington do understand the importance of this issue,” Fisher said. “I suspect, somehow, from somewhere in the federal government, we will get enough bridge-loan capacity to get through at least to the next administration.”

Getting $12 billion in government loans and a $6 billion line of credit is part of a plan to return to profit by 2011, Fisher said, assuming annual U.S. auto sales recover to at least 12.5 million vehicles and GM’s market share remains near 20 percent.

Cars and trucks sold at an annual rate of 10.2 million units in November, and GM’s market share was 20.5 percent, research firm Autodata Corp. said yesterday.

Fisher, a GM director since 1996 and former CEO of Eastman Kodak Co., said he didn’t know the source of any bailout funds. Congressional Democrats want to use the $700 billion bank- bailout plan, while Republicans favor tapping a $25 billion Energy Department loan program that was set up to retool plants.

Congressional Hearings

Wagoner and the CEOs of Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC will testify in congressional hearings tomorrow and on Dec. 5 on behalf of the aid requests for as much as $34 billion. In exchange, GM is proposing to shrink operations, including shedding some brands.

“Do I expect a rapid conclusion to this from Congress? I don’t know, but I’m not betting on it,” Fisher said. “There is an end, before the end of the year, that I think they all believe and understand. They have the numbers. There’s an end to our ability to sustain ourselves.”

A bankruptcy filing is still “way down the list of options,” should the Detroit-based automaker exhaust all other avenues for help, and the focus is on getting government loans, Fisher said.

‘Very Fearful’

“We are fearful, very fearful, of a prolonged proceeding that would just destroy our brand in the marketplace and therefore that is not considered a viable option,” he said.

A so-called prepackaged bankruptcy in which the government supports warranties and helps GM fund operations during restructuring is unrealistic, he said. GM has posted almost $73 billion in losses since the end of 2004.

“These Wall Street geniuses and law firms are coming up with all these solutions that make them a lot of money,” Fisher said. “The truth of the matter is that this is so complex, the what-ifs game has so many legs on it, I could spend the next 24 hours talking on the what-ifs.”

GM rose 5 cents, or 1 percent, to $4.90 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Directors have been meeting three times a week by phone since June or July, according to Fisher, who said he’s been in daily contact with management, usually Wagoner, to chart progress. The board agreed to support Wagoner’s turnaround plan after a two-day meeting this weekend, he said.

Retaining Management

That review made it “even more evident” that senior executives including Wagoner, 55, and Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson should stay and execute the plan, he said. No government official has directly asked the board to consider management changes, he said.

“This is not something you turn over to amateurs,” Fisher said.

GM is seeking to reduce total debt of $62 billion, including obligations related to a union retiree health-care fund, to about $30 billion, according to the plan. U.S. employment would fall to as little as 45,000 in 2012 from about 96,000 now, and GM’s main domestic brands would be pared to four from eight. GM will shrink Pontiac and may sell Saab and Saturn in addition to Hummer.

“This is a plan that hurts everybody, and hopefully we all share in the hurt,” Fisher said. “At the end of the day, we think that it is a plan that benefits everybody.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Green in Southfield, Michigan at jgreen16@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 3, 2008 16:12 EST