Bridgeton auto dealer Vince Capatosta is joining the Detroit Three leaders and dozens of U.S. dealers in Washington, D.C. today to persuade lawmakers that the auto industry needs federal help.

Capatosta, who owns All-Star Dodge Chrysler Jeep, said he’s meeting with Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, Sen. Claire McCaskill and Rep. William Lacy Clay individually this afternoon to lobby for $25 billion in federal aid. That money, the automakers say, will help them survive high costs and slow sales.

“It’s not a bailout,” Capatosta said from Washington. “It’s not a gift. It’s a loan.”

Capatosta said he wants the Missouri lawmakers to “be informed and know that this is far more-reaching than the Big Three. It trickles down to all of their constituents.”

The automakers’ financial problems create a ripple effect on assembly plants and workers but also on suppliers, their workers and the local communities, he said.

After meeting with the Missouri lawmakers, Capatosta said, he will be at the the Senate Banking Committee hearing this afternoon. Executives of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC, as well as the leader of the United Auto Workers, will testify on the need for the money.