Though the industry's disastrous hearings before congress nearly derailed the deal, the initial strategy of approaching the White House would prove to be the key to the eventual bailout. In fact, President Bush was ready to provide $25b to GM, Chrysler, GMAC and Chry-Fi on December 19, only to have talks with the two finance firms break down. Instead, GM and Chrysler were given $9.4b and $4b respectively, with GMAC getting $7b 10 days later and Chrysler receiving $1.5b in January. This staggered bailout, with multiple tranches soon came to symbolize the indecisiveness that would characterize the entire rescue effort. For example, the idea of a merger between GM and Chrysler was being discussed up to late October, when it was abandoned by GM, only to be brought back to the table early in 2009. Twice. The DetN explains: Henderson rebuffed overtures from Chrysler in February, but two months later he raised with the task force the possibility of acquiring parts of Chrysler, if a deal with Fiat faltered.