GM Defends Itself GM’s CEO testified on Capitol Hill today on why it took more than 10 years for the company and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall 2.6 million cars with faulty ignition switches. The cars could suddenly turn off while driving if the ignition was bumped or jostled. And once the engine turned off, power steering and brakes would fail and the airbags would not deploy.

Big Three Automakers Tottering The Ford Motor Company, trying to avoid a federal bailout, announced losses of $1.8 billion today. GM is going to get more federal loans. Meantime, the Treasury Department set a deadline of next Thursday for Chrysler to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Daniel Howes is a business columnist with the Detroit News .

For GM and Chrysler: an Ultimatum President Obama says General Motors and Chrysler have failed to justify their requests for $17 more billions of federal dollars. Bankruptcy is a real possibility. GM has 60 days to come up with a better plan for reorganization; Chrysler has 30 days to pull together a merger with Fiat of Italy. Even if the companies do go bankrupt, the President insists that he won't let the auto industry die: he says Washington will back the warranties on all their new cars. The President compared what's happening to the auto industry to a natural disaster. He spoke directly to the men and women who work in the industry and those who live in communities that depend on it, saying he can't pretend there won't be tough times to come. Will today's drastic actions help to restore it or drive it over a cliff?

Will Washington Rescue Detroit's Big Three? The Big Three bailout passed the House but stalled in the Senate today, even after Barack Obama warned that collapse of the auto industry would have "a devastating ripple effect" throughout the economy. In the Senate, Republicans, many of them from the South, were still saying, " No ."  On this rebroadcast of today's To the Point, we hear whether regional interests are playing a role in preventing what Democrats, including Barack Obama, call a disaster of national proportions.

Should Detroit Be Bailed Out? Democrats want $25 billion for Ford, Chrysler and GM, which auto experts warn could go under before the end of the year. The Bush White House and Senate Republicans say there are better ways to spend taxpayer-bailout money. Many insist that bad management and inferior products are to blame, and argue that a bailout will only postpone the inevitable. Directly and indirectly, the Big Three employ millions of people who buy goods and pay billions in taxes. Should they be washed down the drain? Could a bailout be used to force innovation, rewrite union contracts and clean out executive suites?  We get several opinions.

GM and UAW Have a New Contract Agreement One day after 73,000 United Auto Workers went out on strike, the union and General Motors have announced a tentative sentiment .  Daniel Howes, business columnist with the Detroit News , is following the developing story.