Here’s a WSJ article reviewing and updating this weekend’s Crisis and Bailout drama. 
Big 3 Get Lifeline in Bank Rescue Aid
By JOHN D. MCKINNON, DEBORAH SOLOMON and GREG HITT
Excerpt: Throwing a lifeline to Detroit’s ailing auto makers, the White House reversed course Friday and said it would consider using the $700 billion financial-rescue plan to avert a bankruptcy of the Big Three that could deepen the U.S. recession.
The announcement came hours after negotiations collapsed in Congress over a compromise bailout plan fiercely opposed by Senate Republicans…
The loans to be offered could be more limited than the $14 billion that Congress was contemplating — perhaps closer to $8 billion, one person familiar with the situation said. General Motors Corp. would be a recipient, this person said. GM is hoping President George W. Bush will come through with about $10 billion to keep the company going. It warned Congress it needed at least $4 billion by the end of the month.
It wasn’t clear whether loans would be made available to Chrysler LLC,…
The White House’s intervention showed how heavily the question of the president’s legacy is weighing over his last few weeks in office. White House officials worried that the collapse of one or more domestic auto company, perhaps the last crisis Mr. Bush will confront as president, could cause a surge in job losses, worsening the current recession…
By signaling that Treasury bailout funds could be an option, the White House made it easier for Republicans to walk away from negotiations, creating an environment in which they could push for deep concessions from the United Auto Workers union. That license contributed to the seesawing negotiations of the past week as Congress veered from agreement to disunity, lawmakers say, with union concessions a major point of disagreement…
The failure of Congress to act creates a mess for the administration. The White House must now wade into the muddy task of structuring an auto bailout, which will drain the Treasury’s fast-dwindling supply of funds, while figuring out whether to ask Congress for the second half of the promised financial rescue money. Congress has doled out the rescue funds in installments and would likely return to Washington to debate the matter…
From the beginning, the auto rescue was weighed down by the $700 billion fund that might now save it. Winning additional funds for Detroit was never going to be easy, said Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), because many lawmakers felt they "got hammered pretty hard" over the $700 billion fund, by constituents who viewed it as a giveaway to the banking industry…
