Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Democratic and Republican negotiators have a tentative compromise on a $14 billion automaker bailout plan that may be voted on tonight, Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

Negotiators are briefing their colleagues on the substance of the tentative accord, Reid said.

“I’m hopeful that we can finish this matter tonight,” Reid said on that chamber’s floor. “We should know soon” whether the agreement has enough support, he said.

Connecticut Democrat Christopher Dodd and Tennessee Republican Bob Corker negotiated the accord.

GM and Chrysler are in a race against the clock as they need federal aid to keep from running out of cash early next year. Pressure is mounting on GM as a small number of partsmakers ask for payments in advance, people familiar with the matter said.

Ford Motor Co. lobbyist Ziad S. Ojakli and GM lobbyist Ken Cole entered the meeting room without commenting. Stephen Feinberg, the founder of Cerberus Capital Management LP, owner of Chrysler, and Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin were also in attendance.

Earlier, Reid said that if an agreement is reached, “then the bill will overwhelmingly pass the Senate.”

30 Cents

The Republican alternative, offered by Corker, would require automakers to offer bondholders 30 cents on the dollar and would set wages similar to those paid by foreign companies such as Volkswagen AG.

Corker said he spoke today with GM President Fritz Henderson and United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger. “It’s progressing, at this moment, very well,” the senator told reporters this afternoon, before the meeting. “There’s a tremendous desire to make something happen.”

“I’m hopeful,” Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, said on Bloomberg Television.

President George W. Bush’s administration has endorsed the Democratic plan it helped negotiate.

The House went home after passing its plan last night. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Bloomberg Television she wouldn’t bring her chamber back for further action if the Senate passed a different version, though she also said, “you never say never.”

Reid said it was “pretty clear” there weren’t enough Senate votes to pass the House measure.

Auto Czar

Some Republicans threatened to block the House Democrats’ plan and a revised Senate version from coming up, saying a so- called auto czar created by the legislation wouldn’t have enough authority to enforce cost cuts at the automakers.

“This proposal isn’t nearly tough enough,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said on the Senate floor. “We simply cannot ask the American taxpayer to subsidize failure.”

Corker’s alternative would give the UAW half of the $23 billion it’s owed for health care as GM stock instead, and eliminate a program in which UAW workers are paid not to work if there are no tasks for them.

“With the stick of government, we’re going to force them into bankruptcy if they don’t do this,” Corker said on the Senate floor. “These are the only things that can happen in real time to make these companies successful.”

Emissions Laws

The House and Senate Democratic plans have differences as well. The House plan has language that may force automakers to comply with state emissions laws and an amendment that would require financial institutions that receive bank-rescue funds to report any change in lending.

“We should have a bill this week,” Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said on CNBC. “If it’s not this week, no one should leave.”

“Most of us genuinely really want to do something,” Senator George Voinovich, an Ohio Republican, told reporters. “If we don’t do something this time, you know what’s going to happen in the markets.”

GM fell 48 cents, or 10.4 percent, to close at $4.12 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, while Ford slid 35 cents, or 10.8 percent, to $2.90.

GM has said it needs $4 billion this month, the same amount in January and a total of $10 billion to keep going through March 31.

‘A Chance’

“There is a chance” legislation will pass the Senate, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters. “We believe the economy is in such a weakened state right now that adding another possible loss of 1 million jobs is just something” it cannot “sustain at the moment.”

President-elect Barack Obama said he’s “hopeful” that Congress will approve an automobile industry rescue package this week to head off more damage to the U.S. economy. “We cannot simply stand by and watch this industry collapse,” he said during a Chicago news conference.

GM, which typically pays vendors about 45 days after getting an invoice, has said it won’t have enough money to pay its bills by month’s end without federal aid.

GM has rejected the requests for upfront payments, which so far have come from a fraction of its 3,600 suppliers, said people who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.

‘Open Relationship’

“Despite the current economic challenges, GM remains committed to maintaining a strong, open relationship with our suppliers,” said a spokesman, Dan Flores, who declined to give details on supplier discussions. “GM remains focused on maintaining payment terms and being a prompt payer.”

The U.S. House voted 237-170 late yesterday to approve emergency loans.

“We should not go home and do nothing,” Republican Senator David Vitter of Louisiana said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We should do the right thing, which is to put the plan together with taxpayer help, but that demands a restructuring plan now,” said Vitter, who had threatened to use procedural methods to halt a vote.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 11, 2008 20:52 EST