by Mark Silva
Congress may be in stalemate this morning over a $700-billion bailout for the nation's financial markets, but President Bush vowed today that, for whatever disagreements they may have, "There is no disagreement that something substantial must be done....
"The legislative process is sometimes not very pretty, but we are going to get a package passed,'' Bush said in a brief statement delivered outside the Oval Office on an overcast rainy morning in the capital. "We will rise to the occasion. Republicans and Democrats will come together and pass a substantial rescue plan.''
Not very pretty is an understatement: The president's own party, in the House in particular, is balking at the plan which the administration's Treasury Secretary is pressing.
It's reported this morning that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson got down on bended knee last night and pleaded with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to pass it, though it is not the Democratic leadership that is the problem. And Sen. John McCain, the GOP's presidential nominee, was meeting with both Senate and House Republican leaders this morning in an attempt to get something on track so he can get out of town for a debate with Democratic rival Barack Obama in Mississippi tonight.
"My administration continues to work with the Congress on a rescue plan and we need a rescue plan,'' Bush said, stepping out of the Oval Office for a brief impromptu statement and taking no questions..
"It's hard work,'' he said. "Our proposal is a big proposal and the reason it's big and substantial is because we've got a big problem... and we also need to move quickly.
"Anytime you have a plan this big that is moving this quickly... it provides legislative challenges,'' the president said. "Members (of Congress) want to be heard,'' he said, "and they should be allowed to express their opinions,'' but in the end there is no disagreement over the need for action, quickly.''
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Comments
I so wanted it to be pretty...
Posted by: Marie Stewart | September 26, 2008 10:00 AM
Pelosi has the votes. Let the Dems man up and take ownership of this bailout. They are the majority and can easily pass this in one fell swoop. Gutless, Pelosi and Reid are just looking for cover. They are certainly not looking to Obama for leadership; he is extraneous. The big pressing question for Obama was "Stones or Beatles?" That just about sums it up.
Posted by: marybel | September 26, 2008 10:30 AM
marybel -- the Democrats are trying to make this a bipartisan effort, so no one can accuse them of acting only in their best interest. It's the Republicans who are playing politics. A deal was pretty much in place until that ridiculous Bush photo op - oh, sorry, I mean "meeting" -- then the Republicans all of a sudden came up with some new plan. They are using this crisis to help rebrand themselves and fix their very tarnished image. They are the ones putting politics into a non-political crisis.
Posted by: SouthSideD | September 26, 2008 11:10 AM
This bail out stinks. Congress wants to throw pet projects at this bill that have nothing to do with the economy. Lets look at this bill realistically with out both sides turning this into a political debate. We the people will take the hit for incompetent government while wall street fat cats laugh it up.
Posted by: in god we trust | September 26, 2008 11:11 AM
I love the posters who claim this is a Democrats plan. Do you guys ever read the news? This is your own parties president who wants this plan. The dems put oversight on it...that's it..
Posted by: bill r. | September 26, 2008 11:37 AM
There never was a deal. It takes a majority of both the House and Senate to get it passed and they never had that, although I understand the Dems wanting to play political games by saying they had a deal but that McCain messed it up. He's trying to find the middle ground so a deal can be struck while Obama is off trying to memorize the name of the leader of Pakistan for tonight.
Posted by: NeverWasADeal | September 26, 2008 11:46 AM
Maybe if the idiots that are attaching earmarks to this rescue bill ever start listening to "We The People". Pass a bill that stands alone for a change,if it is so important to bail out wall street,it should stand alone!!!
Posted by: Tom | September 26, 2008 12:33 PM
This is the beginning of Martial Law. There will be no election.
Posted by: Herve Benicio | September 26, 2008 5:05 PM
" marybel " please, read your civics books, Senator Reid cannot do anything, as long as the Bush-McCain Republicans are not willing to work with them and in the past, on crucial votes, that hasn't been the case. Your venomous attacks on the Speaker of our House of Representatives and the Majority Leader of our SenatE is another indication of the slippage of reasonable discourse in our national debate during this election. I do not a agree with your evaluation of those two Democratic leaders, but you are entitled to your opinion, that is one of the reason I served in our Armed Forces, so we can speak our minds in all forums. My only hope is that our the political discourse, during this election, were more civil less mean-spirited and I must admit, it has been the Bush-McCain Republicans that have undermined reasonable debate with their " fear and smear " tactics. I hope you and your fellow Bush-McCain Republicans can return to sensible debate and not more mean-spirited name-calling and distortions. Your ticket, of McCain-Who, can't win, if you continue using those underhanded tactics !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, Chicago | September 26, 2008 6:58 PM