--Auto dealers trying to reverse the closing of more than 3,000 General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC dealers won the backing of two key members of Congress this week.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, and House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, signed on to bills in Congress to reverse the June closing of 789 Chrysler dealers and the planned closing of at least 1,300 GM dealers.

Boehner joins House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., as a co-sponsor in a rare example of party leaders joining forces on a bill. The ranking Republican on Baucus' committee, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is the author of the dealer bill.

Also joining this week were Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas.

That brings the total to 30 senators and 264 House members that are on record in favor of bills seeking to reverse the closings.

GM expects to shrink its dealer network by more than 2,500 dealers by the end of next year, including the voluntary closings of at least 1,250 dealers.

GM and Chrysler argued in hearings this week that the closings are essential. GM said it is giving its 1,300 closing dealers $600 million in wind-down payments, while Chrysler warns it could have to liquidate if the dealer closings, which represent 25 percent of the automaker's dealer body, were reversed.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has said he isn't in a hurry to consider the dealer bill, which the White House strongly opposes. The House approved language seeking to block the dealer closings last week as part of an amendment to a spending bill.