Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- A $14 billion automaker bailout plan and other alternatives lack the votes to pass the Senate, as lawmakers seek to beat a deadline to keep General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC from collapsing.

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.

“It’s going to be really hard for anything to get to 60” votes needed to overcome delaying tactics, said South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he’s working on an agreement that would let the Senate consider Democratic legislation approved yesterday by the House, as well as a slightly different version by Senate Democrats and a Republican alternative. The George W. Bush administration has endorsed the Democratic plans it helped negotiate.

The Republican alternative, offered by Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, would require bondholders to take 30 cents on the dollar and would set wages similar to foreign companies such as Volkswagen AG.

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

Challenge to Senators

The House went home after passing its plan last night. Speaker Nancy Pelosi tossed a challenge to senators, saying 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.”

Some Republicans threatened to block the Democratic plans 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 United Auto Workers union 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.

‘Stick of Government’

“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.”

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.”

Beat a Deadline

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.

Democratic leaders and the Bush administration are trying to beat a deadline to save the companies and the jobs dependent on the industry before Detroit-based GM and Chrysler burn through their remaining cash. 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.

“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.

45 Days

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 the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.

“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.

Deputy White House Chief of Staff Joel Kaplan said today the Bush administration is “going to try like heck to get the votes” from rebellious Senate Republicans. Kaplan said he would be on the phone lobbying this morning.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net; John Hughes in Washington at Jhughes5@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 11, 2008 16:30 EST