General Motors must prove to lawmakers that it can be a viable company by the end of March.

“We’re going to work on what’s been put forth today, and that’s our complete focus,” said CEO Rick Wagoner during a press conference today.

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Amidst a massive selloff on the Dow Jones this afternoon, a couple of things have been overlooked. GM in the first day into it’s second century of operation, closed below $10 per share at $9.98 down almost 8% from yesterday.

GM CEO Wagoner, blames lack of consumer confidence, the big Wall Street selloff and several other factors for the price slide.

Without a doubt, the auto sector is in turmoil, when all parties involved, Tier 1 suppliers, manufacturers and dealer groups posted sharp declines today.

Lear Corp. posted an 8% decline, along with AutoNation, which also posted an 8% decline. Bill Gates who became a stockholder of Auto Nation earlier this year must be quite displeased. Or maybe, he is just gearing up to sell Microsoft operating systems for cars through Auto Nation as he quietly manuevers himself into a larger shareholder position.

The Big Three, who can now almost always be referred to as the Detroit 3, as their sales no longer fit the “Big” criteria are lobbying congressional leaders for help.

The CEO’s of Chrysler, GM and Ford held meeting on Capitol Hill on Wednesday in hopes of securing the loans prior to the end of the government’s fiscal year.

D-Calif. Nancy Pelosi House Speaker was present at the meetings amongst other high ranking political figures.

Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli and Ford CEO Alan Mulally were both responding to reporters in a very positive fashion about the proceedings. General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner on the otherhand had no comment.

The $25 billion loan that is in question is to be used exclusively for re-tooling of plants for more fuel efficient vehicles. In order for the loans to be used, the newly designed production vehicles have to be 25% or more fuel efficient then of those currently in the same class.

All 3 automakers plan to use the funds in order to retrofit their plants from truck to small and medium sized car production. The apparent problem is that none of the manufacturers are hopeful that they will meet the criteria to be 25% more efficient in terms of fuel mileage.

Timing is also very important to complete this deal, as the new fiscal year of the U.S. government begins on Oct. 1st.

In terms of timing both Congress and the White House have to sign off on the deal prior to the loans being available to the companies. So far the White House has dodged questions in the matter deferring the responsibility to Congress.

One must wonder, should the government not provide the $25 billion in funding, will the Big Three have trouble staying afloat, and if not will the Fed throw them a life-jacket?