We’ll be liveblogging the Senate hearings on the bailout of the big three American automakers. We’ll sift through the oft-dull C-Span coverage so you don’t have to. Follow along after the jump.

Refresh to see the latest updates at the bottom of the page

11:55 am: Testing, testing… 1-2 syllabus

12:00 pm: Waiting on the gavel now… Senators do like to make a fashionably late entrance.

12:01 pm: Chris Dodd has dropped the gavel, and is planning on making opening comments.

12:03 pm: “Hundreds of thousands of people would lose their jobs… There are those who believe that the partial or total collapse would… take down huge swaths of the nation’s economy with it.”

12:05 pm: “They’ve faced 21st century issues with 20th century thinking…”

12:06 pm: “I support efforts to relieve this industry… We must do all we can to ensure stability.” Dodd then hints that the “relief” should be tied to environmental conditions.

12:09 pm: Dodd turns it over to Alabama’s Richard Shelby for an introductory statement.

12:11 pm: “We’re about to employ a ready-fire-aim strategy.” Shelby says auto as two words: aw-toe.

12:12 pm: Smack-talk: “Even when the firms were making record sales, they were losing money.”

12:14 pm: “How is the money going to be used?… Are we in the Senate being asked to… perpetuate a market failure?”

12:15 pm: South Dakota’s Tim Johnson is unintelligible.

12:19 pm: Senator Mike Enzi: “I ask my colleagues to resist the illusions of pending disaster.”

12:21 pm: Senator Charles Schumer: “Bankruptcy of a major company at this time would have… major effects.”

12:25 pm: Senator Jim Bunning: “The (bailout) does not address the long-term viability of the domestic manufacturing industry… These three companies cannot survive at their current size… Major changes are needed if federal dollars are made available.”

12:30 pm: Senator Tom Carper just made his opening statement… Now it’s Liddy Dole’s turn.

12:34 pm: Senator Dole: “We need to end the practice of private rewards for public risk.”

12:36 pm: Senator Bob Menendez: “We need strings attached.”

12:38 pm: Senator Bob Corker: “I’d like for each of you (to explain) why Chapter 11 doesn’t work.”

12:40 pm: Senator Sherrod Brown: “The quickest way to turn this recession into a depression is to let these companies founder… If you need evidence that Detroit ‘gets it’ look at last year’s labor agreement… We must be together to rebuild a strong manufacturing sector… We need to build real things and that’s what Detroit does.”

12:46 pm: Senator Wayne Allard: “(Other automakers) will have to compete against their own tax dollars if we subsidize… one sector of the automobile industry.”

12:48 pm: Senator Bob Casey: “What are the consequences of doing nothing?… Potentially millions of jobs are at risk across America… Recession could become a depression… But (automakers) you have to change.”

12:55 pm: Senator Robert Bennett: “I’m in favor of providing them the cash that will allow them to continue… I’m not quite sure about bankruptcy as the way to accomplish this… But I believe we have to do something to see to it that they survive while they try to turn this multi-billion-dollar-industry into a smaller billion-dollar-industry.”

1:00 pm: Senator Jon Tester: “Tell us how you’re going to change the business model.”

1:05 pm: Senator Evan Bayh: “This is not the time to add greater instability to this situation… We have a model to build off of — in 1979 the Chrysler Corp… [Was a] win-win-win situation”

1:07 pm: Senator Mike Crapo will be the last to give an opening statement before testimony begins. Zzzzzzzzzzz.

1:13 pm: Testimony from Senator Debbie Stabenow (from Michigan) begins…

1:13 pm: “The global financial crisis was not caused by the American auto industry.”

1:17 pm: Senator Stabenow (who sounds like she’s on the verge of tears) is rattling off the industries that the U.S. auto sector touches… Now she’s bringing in defense and the military.

1:21 pm: “The reality is, we have our companies competing against countries.”

Is she kidding? : “Despite the challenges, we have managed to see the American manufacturers remain competitive until the financial downturn.”

1:23 pm: “Bankruptcy would put a disastrous burden on the American taxpayers… Bankruptcy would… lead to a government tax loss of $108 billion over three years.”

1:25 pm: “We don’t need to be told that there needs to be restructuring, or downsizing, or closings of plants… We don’t have to say to the workers that they should restructure in terms of pay cuts… The new contracts with the UAW cut paychecks by 50%.”

Senator Stabenow sticks out like a sore thumb:

1:28 pm: Witnesses are being introduced. UAW’s President, Ford’s President, Chrysler’s CEO, and GM’s CEO.

1:33 pm: Ron Gettelfinger, the United Automobile Workers Union president has begun his testimony.

1:36 pm: Mr. Gettelfinger is listing the concessions that the UAW has made to the automakers.

1:37 pm: “There are a lot of misconceptions about our union… We have lost 47,000 workers at General Motors… We recognize that in order for these companies to be competitive, we’ve had to take public heat… And we’re willing to work with these companies to make sure consumers get the best quality product that we can deliver.”

1:39 pm: Alan Mulally, the President of Ford has begun his opening statement.

1:40 pm: “Few companies have restructured more aggressively. We’re delivering the best and amoung the best fuel economy with all new cars… We were profitable in the first quarter of this year, and well on our way to long-term profitability when the credit crisis hit.”

1:41 pm: “We would repay [the loans] with interest… This is really an important industry. It is the core of our economy.”

1:44 pm: Chrysler’s CEO, Robert Nardelli, has begun his testimony.

1:47 pm: “[Bankruptcy] would be a more costly solution than the one we have proposed… That’s why as an industry we’re requesting $25 billion dollars of working capital… We are willing to provide transparency.”

1:50 pm: “With immediate financial assistance, the lifeblood of our economy will continue to grow… We are and will continue to be the quintessential American car company.”

1:53 pm: GM’s CEO, Rick Wagoner, has begun his testimony.

1:54 pm: “We expect to reduce [costs] by 35% before 2011… We spent $1.3 billion dollars (on pensions and health-care) in the last three years.”

1:55 pm: “On the product side we’re building cars that people really want to buy… We’ll have nine hybrids next year.”

1:56 pm: “The industry and the economy… threatens not only GM’s turnaround, but our real survival.”

1:57 pm: “What exposes us to failure now is not our product lineup, is not our business plan… what exposes us to failure is the financial crisis.”

1:58 pm: “The costs [of failure] would be catastrophic… That’s why this is about a lot more than Detroit. It’s about saving the U.S. economy from financial collapse… You can help us through this crisis, in return we will repay the taxpayers faith.”

1:59 pm: Peter Morici, an economist has begun his testimony against the bailout.

2:01 pm: “The Detroit three are rapidly running out of cash… It is my belief that it would be better to let them [file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy]… Circumstances are different than in 1979 when Chrysler received government assistance.”

2:02 pm: “There is no such thing as competitive enough in the automobile industry… Sooner or later one of the big three will march down that path (bankruptcy)… If things are so dire… is $25 billion enough?”

2:04 pm: “If chapter 11 is put off, the industry will continue to shrink… Sooner or later the industry will have to bring its cost structure down to that of its competitors…”

2:05 pm: “It is high time that we take [trade policy imperatives] quite seriously.”

2:07 pm: “There are things we can do to provide incentives for Americans to buy fuel incentive cars… but I don’t think giving these companies $25 billion right now is a good idea.”

2:08 pm: Question and answer period has begun.

2:10 pm: What are the financial implications of bankruptcy? Wagoner says that manufacturing and financing would be affected. Pensions and health-care would be affected as well as supplier payments. Also state and local government would be affected?

Nardelli says that equipment manufacturers and suppliers would be hurt to the tune of $7-$8 billion.

2:14 pm: Ron Gettelfinger (UAW): “If one of these three companies was to go bankrupt, it would probably take the other two with it.”

2:19 pm: Rick Wagoner: “We’re all going to have to adapt to a period of much more realistic credit terms.”

2:20 pm: Senator Dodd chides Wagoner that GM was the one providing credit to people.

2:24 pm: Peter Morici (Economist): “America is over-car-red the same way we’re over-housed… I drive a Ford truck” (laughter because he’s sitting next to GM CEO Wagoner)

2:25 pm: “Some kind of restructuring has got to happen.”

2:28 pm: Senator Richard Shelby asks what the companies will do with the $25 billion specifically, and how they would pay this back.

2:29 pm: Rick Wagoner (GM) says his company isn’t making money because of costs of restructuring, and that the market for credit has plunged.

2:30 pm: Rick Wagoner: “We believe that the business model that we have structured today, that we can be profitable.”

2:31 pm: Senator Shelby: “Are you making money yet?”

2:31 pm: Alan Mulally (Ford): “We made money in the first quarter before the crisis… We’re going to come out of this a turbo machine.”

[End of Live Coverage] Watch the video on C-Span