In a joint press conference on Thursday, November 20, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said the CEOs of the Detroit Big Three failed in their attempts to persuade Congress to provide $25 billion in aid to the ailing American automotive industry.

Congress has give the executives 12 days to illustrate how such bailout funds would be spent. This gives the carmakers time to address the fears of lawmakers who are concerned that the loans would not be used to effect real change, but would only serve as a band-aid to meet current operating expenses.

It's all about accountability and viability, said Pelosi. Until we can see a plan where the auto industry is held accountable and a plan for viability on how they go into the future until we see the plan, until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money.

Originally the auto execs came to Congress asking for funds to support a General Motors/Chrysler merger, but that effort quickly morphed into an overall call for an industry bailout. The Bush administration has resisted any efforts to use part of the $700 billion available to bolster the financial sector and Congressional leaders are now opposed to altering the terms of an existing $25 billion program for factory re-tooling for the production of fuel-efficient vehicles.

What happened here in Washington this week has not been good for the auto industry, said Reid I know it wasn't planned but these guys flying in their big corporate jets doesn't send a good message to people in Searchlight, Nev., or Las Vegas, or Reno, or anyplace in this country. We want them to get their act together. We want them to come up with something. We're here to help. We're not against the auto industry. We want to help those people keep those jobs.