WASHINGTON (Bloomberg) — Senate Banking Committee chairman Chris Dodd said General Motors Corp. chief executive Richard Wagoner should be replaced as a condition for federal aid and Chrysler LLC may have to merge to survive.

"You"ve got to consider new leadership," Dodd said on CBS's "Face the Nation". Wagoner, he said, "has to move on".

GM spokesman Steve Harris said he didn't interpret Dodd's comments as making Wagoner's exit a condition for aid, adding that the company management, employees and dealers "all feel like Rick is the right guy to lead us at difficult time".

Lawmakers are putting together a $15 billion plan intended to help keep GM and Chrysler afloat and negotiations are underway between congressional Democrats and the Bush administration over what conditions for restructuring will be required. The House and Senate are returning this week specifically to consider the measure.

At least some GM board members would be willing to leave if it were a requirement of Congress for receiving aid, said a person familiar with GM board deliberations.

President-elect Barack Obama, asked on NBC's "Meet the Press," whether the management of the automaker should be allowed to stay, said "it may not be the same for all the companies".

Later, at a press conference in Chicago, Obama said that if the management team "that"s currently in place doesn"t understand the urgency of the situation and is not willing to make the tough choices and adapt to these new circumstances, then they should go".