WASHINGTON - HOPES for a swift bailout of the US auto industry appeared to stall on Thursday after a top Democratic senator said Republicans looked set to scupper the proposal until Mr Barack Obama is president.

Top Democrats including president-elect Obama urged an accelerated bailout of the once-mighty US industry amid warnings from bosses that the sector, hammered by mounting losses and plunging sales, could collapse.

But Mr Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said he did not believe a plan could pass before Mr Obama takes office in January.

'I don't know of a single Republican willing to support (it),' Mr Dodd told reporters.

'I want to be careful (not) to bring up a proposition that might fail... under an Obama administration, there is a greater willingness to deal with the issue.'

Mr Obama urged President George W. Bush to support immediate aid for the ailing automobile industry during their private meeting in Washington on Monday, but the White House is still cool towards the idea.

Any auto bailout bill would require 60 votes in the Senate to overcome Republican obstruction tactics. The current chamber has 49 Republicans, 49 Democrats and two independents who usually caucus with the Democrats.

Next year, Democrats will have a larger majority after making gains in last week's election.

Mr Dodd's remarks came as the top Republican in the House of Representatives John Boehner rejected calls for a new financial bailout of the car industry.

'Spending billions of additional federal tax dollars with no promises to reform the root causes crippling automakers' competitiveness around the world is neither fair to taxpayers nor sound fiscal policy,' Mr Boehner said.

Earlier this year, Congress approved a US$25 billion (S$37.7 billion) loan guarantee programme to help ailing automakers retool to produce fuel-efficient vehicles, but the Big Three automakers - General Motors, Ford and Chrysler - asked lawmakers last week for an additional US$25 billion to survive the steep US downturn amid the global financial crisis.

Auto industry executives were due on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to press the case for quick government help.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi had raised the prospect of calling a lame duck House session next week to pass a bailout plan, but that is now in doubt.

Mr Boehner is not the only Republican casting doubt on the Democratic Party's calls to rescue the auto industry, which accounts for millions of jobs in states like Michigan and Ohio, already hit by the reeling economy.

'The financial situation facing the Big Three is not a national problem, but their problem,' veteran Republican Senator Richard Shelby was quoted as saying in the Financial Times.

In a House hearing on Wednesday, another senior Republican, Mr Spencer Bachus, expressed fears of a rash of federal government bailouts.

'Where does this stop? We started with financial services, we went from banks to insurance companies... now we're talking about manufacturing companies, automobiles... Does it end there?'

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday also spoke out against extending the financial industry bailout plan to automakers.

The White House refused to say on Wednesday whether or not it considered troubled US auto giants seeking US government help to be too important to the US economy to be allowed to fail.

But it has said it will listen to plans being formulated in Congress to help the sector. Automakers however said it was too soon to call the bailout plan dead in the water.

'There's plenty of time between now and Tuesday,' said Ford spokesman Mike Moran.

GM spokesman Greg Martin said that while some members of Congress 'may not have kept pace with everything we've done to reshape our business and get more competitive, we believe we have a strong case to make next week, and all parties will recognise the pressing need to preserve our industry.'

'We need the support to bridge this extraordinary economic time and one that's not of our making,' Mr Martin said.