By Thomas Ferraro and John Crawley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Efforts to provide emergency loans to struggling U.S. automakers gained momentum on Friday after a grim U.S. jobs report spurred talks between congressional leaders and the White House.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has dropped her insistence that the money come from the $700 billion financial bailout fund that the Bush administration had refused to use on automakers, said a congressional aide familiar with the discussions.
Another congressional source said Pelosi was open to the idea of tapping the existing $25 billion advanced energy technology loan fund to help auto companies - an idea the White House has promoted.
Such a move would likely build bipartisan support in Congress for a bill that could be signed into law by President George W. Bush.
Earlier on Friday, the chief executives of General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler Corp wrapped up their second visit to Washington in as many weeks, seeking a total of the $34 billion in loans.
The appearance of the CEOs before lawmakers was preceded by U.S. government data showing employers axed more than 533,000 jobs in November, the highest monthly job-loss in 34 years. [ID:nN05431090]
Congress and the White House are anxious to prevent the threatened near-term collapse of one or more of the Detroit Three - which directly employ 250,000 people.
"In the midst of the worst economic situation since the Great Depression it would be an unmitigated disaster," Rep. Barney Frank said during hearing on Friday by the House Financial Services Committee he chairs.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who chaired Thursday's hearing with the auto executives, had said he would try to draft a rescue bill that the Senate could begin to consider on Monday.
"Dodd, Barney Frank and the White House are all talking. They are all talking to each other," the congressional aide said. It was uncertain if a bill would first go to the House or the Senate.
There had been agreement between most of Congress and the Bush administration that the automakers needed help, but previously no agreement on how to do it.
(Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
