According to a report by Harry Stoffer for Automotive News, the Bush White House is calling for a proposed government overseer charged with ensuring proper restructuring for the long-term viability of the Detroit Big Three to be vested with powers to compel bankruptcy proceedings.

The Bush administration's criteria in the negotiations with Congressional Democrats over emergency-aid legislation was outlined by Press Secretary Dana Perino in a briefing on Monday, December 8. Perino said a deal would "very likely" be brokered sometime today.

Additionally, the White House called on lawmakers to work in the spirit of bipartisanship to enact a bill by week's end. Members of Congress and officials in the administration spend the weekend crafting an agreement to provide emergency loans totaling $15 billion to stave off the collapse of General Motors and Chrysler before the end of the year.

"One thing we want to make sure is that (the legislation) does not weaken the requirement that any long-term financing only be made available to firms that have a credible viability plan," Perino said.

The Bush administration believes that if, in the judgment of the overseer, an automaker is not following a plan to achieve viability, the overseer should be able to force the company into a Chapter 11 reorganization.