President Bush sanctioned a last-ditch financial rescue of General Motors and Chrysler yesterday after the White House warned that the bankruptcy of either company would deliver a devastating blow to the US economy. Emergency funding of $14bn (£9.4bn) is expected to come from the $700bn troubled asset relief programme, (Tarp) which the White House had said was off-limits to the auto industry until its hand was forced by the collapse of bail-out legislation in the Senate on Thursday night. GM and Chrysler have hired bankruptcy advisers as the rescue goes to the wire, amid warnings from executives at both companies that their collapse could imperil millions of jobs. "The current weakened state of the economy is such that it could not withstand a body blow like a disorderly bankruptcy in the auto industry," said Dana Perino, White House press secretary, who added that the Tarp fund might be used.