WASHINGTON — As the Tuesday deadline approaches for the Obama administration to evaluate auto makers’ restructuring packages, Democrats from  Missouri and Illinois are pushing to save 5,000 jobs at a Chrysler plant near St. Louis.

In a letter to Steven Rattner, a top adviser for President Obama’s auto task force, congressional leaders made a case for the Fenton plant and its workers, saying “the men and women at the Fenton facilities helped Chrysler survive its darkest hours.”

The Chrysler Fenton minivan plant has been idled since October. The plant’s truck assembly lines have been running on diminished production.

The plant’s future has been in question as Chrysler looks for ways to cut cost. The company’s restructuring plan released in February called for 3,000 more layoffs and $2 billion more in federal aid.

Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, one of the co-signers of the letter, said it would be “tragic” if the Fenton plant closed and would hurt far more people than auto workers.

“Chrysler is a key part of the St. Louis economy with those 5,000 workers and then the other ancillary businesses that benefit from that payroll,” Clay said in an interview.

The Fenton plant was retrofitted in 2007 allowing it to make different cars, including minivans, trucks and European exports. Clay said he hoped the company and the government would see it as a waste to taxpayers to close a plant with recent renovations.

Although he was optimistic that Obama could resurrect the U.S. auto market, Clay would not speculate about the future of the Fenton plant, which the letter said could be operational again in two months.

Other co-signers of the letter were: Reps. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, and Jerry Costello, D-Belleville.