Congress tells Detroit to forget bailout

Lawmakers in Congress are dismissing the possibility of a federal bailout for Detroit, the largest US city to declare bankruptcy.

Even Michigan Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat and former Detroit councilman, says the city should instead search "every single federal program available" for help. "Not new bailouts, but existing programs," Levin said in an interview at the Capitol yesterday.

The bipartisan rejection of a bailout signals how little appetite there is for fresh spending in Washington as lawmakers anticipate another showdown over raising the US debt limit this year. They don't see much political benefit in propping up a city that has lost half of its population since 1970.

During last year's campaign, President Barack Obama touted the $82 billion bailout of the auto industry, saying he "bet on the American workers" while Republicans would have let the companies go bankrupt. A year later, his administration appears less interested in direct aid to Detroit, the center of the region that remains home to General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler Group.