As the clock ran down on this year's session, Congress debated bailing out the U.S. auto industry.

A few weeks ago, Congress voted to spend more than $700 billion to bail out the financial industry. Late last month, Congress took up a similar debate about the auto industry. Both the banking and the auto industry in the United States have been hit hard by the struggling economy. Car sales in the United States are at their lowest point in decades. The chart you see here shows the losses of two of the biggest U.S.-owned car companies. There are many different reasons for the slump in car sales. Fewer people buy cars when the economy is bad. Also, GM and Ford made a lot of large sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, which use a lot of gas. People bought far fewer SUVs when the price of gas went up over the past two years. GM and Ford also face tough competition from Asian-owned companies like Toyota and Honda, which produce cars that are often rated better than GM or Ford cars.

The three biggest U.S.-owned car companies are GM, Ford, and Chrysler. All three have said that they need $25 billion or they will run out of money and go bankrupt. Going bankrupt would mean they couldn't pay for the parts to make new cars, or for the people to make them. The heads of all three companies came to Washington, D.C. to ask Congress for the money. But many in Congress were resistant to the idea of giving the failing companies more money. Many people were upset that the leaders of all three companies flew to Washington in expensive private jets. Can you understand why that would make people angry? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that if the car companies showed them a plan on how they would spend the money, Congress would return in December for a vote. Do you think this is a good idea?