Frank to hold hearing on bill to lend automakers $25b

US Representative Barney Frank said today that his congressional committee will hold a hearing next week to consider a bill to provide $25 billion in federal loans to US auto manufacturers.

Frank, the Newton Democrat who chairs the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, told reporters in Washington: "We will be having a hearing, by the way, a week from today on a bill that will be drafted to advance $25 billion in loans to the American auto companies."

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler LLC have been lobbying for assistance as a severe downturn in U.S. auto sales pummels their balance sheets.

Frank said the money for the loan would come out of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), part of the $700-billion financial market rescue law enacted last month, but he said separate legislation to amend the TARP is needed.

"It will be coming out of the TARP if the bill passes," he said, adding that the legislation will be written so it would not necessarily trigger release of the second half of the $700 billion funding for the TARP.

"It won't require you to necessarily trigger the second 350," he said. (Reuters)