WASHINGTON -- General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC yesterday warned that they could collapse without federal aid before the end of the month, as they joined with Ford Motor Co. to urge lawmakers to grant them $34 billion in loans.

Congressional leaders and the Bush administration withheld judgment on the plans ahead of hearings tomorrow and Friday. All three companies' chief executives agreed to symbolic steps urged by Congress, including salaries of $1 a year and the elimination of corporate jets to make their case more palatable, and they arrived from Detroit in hybrid vehicles to underscore the point.

Combined with a 37 percent plunge in sales for November, the automakers portrayed an industry out of time, money and options.

Chrysler LLC warned that it needs $7 billion before the end of the month, while General Motors Corp. needs $4 billion -- in both cases to avoid running short of cash to pay suppliers and other bills in January.

"Absent such assistance, the company will default in the near term," GM told lawmakers, "very likely precipitating a total collapse of the domestic industry and its extensive supply chain, with a ripple effect that will have severe, long-term consequences to the U.S. economy."

GM's total request now tops $18 billion, with $12 billion in loans and an additional $6 billion as an emergency line of credit, should the economy continue to worsen. In return, GM pledged to shed four of its U.S. brands, nine factories, as many as 31,500 workers and roughly $30 billion in debt through 2012 -- all to make a profit excluding taxes by 2011.

"There isn't a plan B," said GM President and Chief Operating Officer Fritz Henderson. "Absent support, the company can't fund its operations."

Only Ford Motor Co. offered a brighter outlook, requesting a $9 billion government credit line that it said it would tap should the economy weaken further. "We think we're going to be able to get through this and get back to profitability, and be a very viable company in 2011," said Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally, who pledged to accept a $1-a-year salary only if Ford took the loan.

Congressional leaders downplayed the festering question of where the money to aid the auto industry would come from, vowing unspecified action. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would bring a bill to the Senate floor Monday that could kick off the process.

"We're already spending a lot of money on a lot of things. We can't be throwing good money after bad," Mr. Reid told reporters yesterday. "I'm hopeful, and I'm somewhat confident, that they can come up with something that will give us the ability to show that they are viable. It's up to them."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was more upbeat, saying some kind of help was likely, and she told House members that a session next week was possible. "I believe an intervention will happen, either legislatively or from the administration," Ms. Pelosi said. "I think it's pretty clear that bankruptcy is not an option."

After last month's failed attempt to win $25 billion in loans for the auto industry, its Capitol Hill allies say more lobbying will be needed simply to persuade enough lawmakers that Detroit's automakers are worth saving. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., called upon President George W. Bush and President-elect Barack Obama to be more involved in the debate, "not just sort of in the background."

"This administration has to face this, and the next administration has to face this, and there needs to be a much greater focus on both," Mr. Levin said. "If this thing is going to happen next week, it's going to happen with ... the active support and assistance of the current president and the president-elect."

An Obama spokesman declined to comment. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm yesterday said she had urged Mr. Obama at a national governors meeting in Philadelphia to support aid for the industry.

Democrats contend that the Bush administration has the power to use the $700 billion financial bailout package to help the industry. Ms. Pelosi criticized the administration yesterday, saying its lack of standards for how the bailout money would be used by financial firms compared poorly to Congress' demands for detailed restrictions on automakers' aid.

In fact, federal auditors yesterday said, in the first comprehensive review of the overall U.S. economic rescue package, that the government must toughen its monitoring of the $700 billion financial bailout to ensure that banking institutions limit their top executives' pay and comply with other restrictions.

The Treasury Department has no mechanism in place to track how institutions are using $150 billion in taxpayer money that the government injected into the banking system as of last month, the Government Accountability Office concluded in its report to Congress.

The auditors acknowledged that the program, created Oct. 3 to help stabilize a rapidly faltering banking system, was less than 60 days old and has been adjusting to an evolving mission.

But the 72-page report was bound to feed congressional concern that banks and other institutions are not being properly monitored and are not using the money to increase lending.

In another step in the process, the Federal Reserve yesterday said it was extending the life of lending programs aimed at smashing through credit clogs and restoring stability to financial markets. The Fed said the programs, originally slated to last through Jan. 30, would be extended through April 30 "in light of continuing strains in financial markets."

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials rose 270 points yesterday, making at least a dent in Monday's huge drop of nearly 680 points.

The Bush administration has said it wanted any aid for the automakers to come from $25 billion set aside in September for retooling plants. Mr. Reid yesterday said $20 billion of that fund already has been requested, and the automakers all said they had counted on such loans as part of their restructuring plans.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the administration had not had time to review their plans, and that the original $25 billion loan idea was "quite generous." She added: "We are sticking to our guns that the companies have to prove that they are viable before the taxpayer dollars should be given to them."

The companies said they did not collaborate in putting their plans together, only sharing data about estimates of sales in future years. But all hewed to the requests from Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid, emphasizing commitments to more fuel-efficient models and viable business plans, while warning that any form of bankruptcy could crush their operations. GM said its collapse would cause "catastrophic damage to the U.S. economy," with failures rippling through suppliers to other automakers, dealers and financial firms."

The Center for Automotive Research estimated that 3 million jobs may be at risk in one year after a GM bankruptcy.

Of the three, only Chrysler left open the possibility of a merger with another company, saying partnerships, alliances or a consolidation are a "fundamental element" of the company's plan. Chrysler did not appear to ask for more than $7 billion, saying it would begin repaying the loan in 2012.

All three automakers plan to meet with the UAW today in Detroit to debate what cost savings could be wrung from the union contracts. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger has said he was open to all options, including reopening the deals.