Washington  - Congressional leaders will spend the weekend seeking a solution to a stalemate over how to help the US automotive industry survive the economic recession.

A second day of hearings with car executives ended Friday with no apparent agreement on the industry's request for 34 billion dollars in federal aid.

President George W Bush urged legislators to put a bill together by next week amid warnings that General Motors Corp, the world's largest carmaker, may not last beyond this year without help from the government.

Congressional leaders made no such promises, insisting they would only bring a bail-out bill to the floor of the Senate or House of Representatives if it had enough votes to be approved.

"With very few exceptions the members were saying we should do something," Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, told reporters. "We will now see whether we can put the bill together. If we have agreement, then we go to the floor."

Frank warned of an economic "disaster" if one of the Detroit-based Big Three were to declare bankruptcy.

The Bush administration and Republicans are at odds with Democrats, who hold a majority in Congress, over how to help the carmakers.

Bush has pushed for an existing 25-billion-dollar fund that was meant for energy improvements to be restructured. Democrats want 34 billion dollars taken out of a
700-billion-dollar financial rescue package passed in October.

But many legislators from both parties remain reluctant to prop up an industry that has long failed to modernize and keep up with more energy-efficient foreign competitors. Some floated the possibility of a government oversight board that would take an active role in the companies' restructuring process.

"I am concerned about the viability of the automobile companies," Bush said. "And likewise, I am concerned about taxpayer money being provided to those companies that may not survive."

Executives from GM, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC have argued they were well on the way to recovery before the current economic recession struck. Car sales have plummeted to 25-year lows over the last two months as consumers struggled to get loans. (dpa)