WASHINGTON (AP) - The CEOs of the Big Three U.S. auto companies are being told they'd make a better case for a government bailout if they'd stop flying around in private jets.

During a House hearing this morning where the three CEOs appealed again for a $25 billion government rescue plan, California Democrat Brad Sherman asked them to raise their hands if they had come to Washington on commercial airliners. No hands went up.

He then asked if any of them had plans to sell their corporate jets. Again, no hands went up.

Sherman and New York Democrat Gary Ackerman told the executives they're having trouble justifying a bailout for companies whose chiefs fly around in expensive private jets.

Ackerman said there was "a delicious irony in seeing private jets flying into Washington D.C. and people coming off them with tin cups in their hands."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)