Calls for auto exec changes along with rescue!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The ailing U.S. auto industry needs changes at the top, an influential Democratic senator said on Monday as Congress and the White House work to complete a plan to save Detroit's Big Three and stem the deepening U.S. recession.

Even if they manage to reach an agreement in principle to provide General Motors Corp, Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co with at least $15 billion in short-term loans, it was uncertain if it would become law.

Democrats have a majority in the 100-member Senate, which is to meet on Monday and could begin consideration of legislation within days. But skeptical Republicans could kill such a measure with a procedural hurdle that would need 60 votes to clear.

Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, the powerful chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, indicated that any bailout might come with strings attached for auto industry executives, who appeared before his committee last week to plead for help.

"It is not my job to hire and fire, but what I'm trying to suggest is that you need to have new teams in place," Dodd told ABC's Good Morning America show on Monday.

"If you are going to restructure a company you can't be asking the people frankly, many who were involved in creating the problems we're in, to be involved in restructuring."...More