"An abrupt bankruptcy for autos could be devastating for the economy," Bush told reporters aboard Air Force One during an unannounced trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. "We're now in the process of working with the stakeholders on a way forward. We're not quite ready to announce that yet."

Bush would not give a precise timetable but said, "This will not be a long process because of the economic fragility of the autos."

Emergency aid

The Bush administration is considering ways of providing emergency aid to General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC, which have said they could run out of cash within weeks without help from the government.

In Washington, a Treasury Department official said Monday that no decisions have been made on what type of support to provide Detroit automakers.

Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said depart-ment officials are continuing to assess the information they have received from the auto companies.

Treasury officials are pro-viding regular briefings to the White House, but she said there was no estimate on when a decision might be made.

Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat and auto industry ally, said in Detroit that he expects Bush's solution to help the Detroit automakers will follow the previous deal Bush reached with congressional leaders.

The deal approved by the House provided loans for Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp to help them survive until March 31, but it was blocked by some Repub-lican senators.

Ford Motor Company has said it has enough cash to survive 2009.

Levin says he expects GM to get US$8 billion and Chrysler US$7 billion under the Bush administration's plan. He said the Treasury secretary likely would become the 'car czar' and oversee restructuring the automakers.

- AP