The White House was considering on Friday whether to divert funds from the 700-billion-dollar bail-out package for Wall Street to the automotive industry after the Senate defeated a similar package for US carmakers, according to dpa. "It is disappointing that while appropriate and effective legislation to assist and restructure troubled automakers received majority support in both houses, Congress nevertheless failed to pass final legislation," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement. A last-ditch effort to pass a 14-billion-dollar emergency loan to resuscitate the ailing car industry fell apart late Thursday after negotiations collapsed in the Senate, causing a wave of financial gloom to ripple through world markets on Friday. The White House could take some of the money from the financial industry bail-out package - known as TARP - approved by Congress in October to loan Detroit's automakers to prevent the potential loss of millions of jobs, Perino said. "Under normal economic conditions we would prefer that markets determine the ultimate fate of private firms. However, given the current weakened state of the US economy, we will consider other options if necessary - including use of the TARP programme - to prevent a collapse of troubled automakers," Perino said. "A precipitous collapse of this industry would have a severe impact on our economy, and it would be irresponsible to further weaken and destabilize our economy at this time."
