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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Humbled U.S. automakers are pleading with Congress to approve an expanded $34 billion rescue package to save their troubled industry -- although Detroit's Big Three auto executives face continued skepticism from lawmakers in an encore appearance on Capitol Hill.
General Motors chief executive Rick Wagoner apologized for asking for the help from taxpayers.
"We wish the market conditions were better. They're not," Wagoner told reporters ahead of a Senate hearing.
The three executives came by car, two weeks after a botched attempt for aid that included criticism for flying to the U.S. capital on separate private jets.
Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has come out in favor of federal financial help for the auto industry, which has been losing billions of dollars a month amid sharply lower demand for the vehicles it makes. GM's Shreveport plant has laid off hundreds of employees and eliminated one of its shift due to slumping sales of the Chevy and GMC pickups and Hummer SUVs it makes.
The Connecticut Democrat stated his position as the heads of GM, Ford and Chrysler returned to Congress to plead with lawmakers for some $34 billion in assistance.
Dodd said that if the problem were simply one of car makers failing to adapt to global competition, "I'd let them fail." But at a hearing, Dodd also said that such an approach would amount to playing "Russian Roulette with the economy of the United States."
Dodd said he thought automakers had made a better case for federal assistance than the financial industry, which has benefited from a $700 billion rescue plan.
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