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RENITA JABLONSKI: It’s time to fire up the grill, eat some potato or macaroni salad. Maybe both. But executives at GM may not be in the party mood. Heading into this holiday weekend, the company’s waiting for a decision on whether it’ll get its independence from Chapter 11. Marketplace’s Jennifer Collins has more.

JENNIFER COLLINS: The Fourth of July comes at a rather inconvenient time this year for General Motors.

PAUL EISENSTEIN: Yeah, this is one of those times when you almost wish that there wasn’t a long break.

Paul Eisenstein follows the company for TheDetroitBureau.com. General Motors wants to divide the company. It’ll sell off shuttered factories and brands that aren’t selling well, like Hummer and Saturn. And it’ll keep the “good assets,” brands like Chevrolet and GMC, and factories that make cars that still sell.

EISENSTEIN: And all of a sudden, you’ve got this new company that is much slimmed down and basically all the bad stuff goes, well I think, technically the term is bye-bye.

U.S. Judge Robert Gerber adjourned the bankruptcy hearing yesterday with no word on when he’ll make a decision. The government has said if GM is not cleared by next Friday, it can walk away from its pledge to back the company. A ruling could easily be held up by creditors or unions. Either way, Eisenstein says it’s unlikely the Obama administration will let the company fail.

I’m Jennifer Collins for Marketplace.