President Bush tried Friday morning to reassure America that lawmakers will rise to the occasion, form a compromise and agree to a $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan, after bipartisan talks apparently broke down late Thursday.
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"Anytime you have a plan this big that is moving this quickly, it creates challenges," Bush said.
Discussions to approve that plan slowed late Thursday after top Senate Democrats said they were surprised that a House GOP proposal was chipping away at the package's supporters.
"This morning it looked like we had a bipartisan agreement, but this evening House Republicans determined that was not the case," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said that a package that adds to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 billion bailout plan received support from both Democrats and some Republicans, but that some House Republicans are now supporting a measure offered by Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., was depressing their effort.
"If Paulson backs [Cantor's] plan negotiations will have to start again," Dodd told reporters. - Ron Orol
Ron Orol is a Washington-based reporter for The Deal and author of Extreme Value Hedging: How Activist Hedge Fund Managers Are Taking on the World.
