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Talks Implode During a Day of Chaos; Fate of Bailout Plan Remains Unresolved - NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — President Bush tried to assure Americans on Friday morning that lawmakers and the administration would be able come together and reach an agreement on a proposal to rescue the country’s financial system.

“We are going to get a package passed,” Mr. Bush said, a day after an earlier agreement dissolved amid a flurry of political rancor. “We will rise to the occasion. Democrats and Republicans are going to come together to get a rescue plan passed.”

Mr. Bush spoke as lawmakers and administration officials were gearing up for a second day of discussions about the shape of the $700 billion rescue package. Thursday’s agreement, which seemed like a sure thing by early afternoon, fell apart during a meeting later in the day at the White House.

Wall Street seemed to find some solace in Bush’s comments, Shares, which trading down more than 100 points, cut their loses in half.

Speaking from the White House just after the New York Stock Exchange opening bell, President Bush noted the disagreements among lawmakers about how the rescue should be shaped. “The legislative process is sometimes not very pretty,” he said.

But he said everyone in Washington agreed that action was needed immediately. “There are disagreements over aspects of the plan, but there is no disagreement that something substantial must be done,” he said.

For their part Friday morning, lawmakers from both parties staked out their positions on a round of morning talk shows. Ahead of the anticipated resumption of negotiations later in the morning, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said the urgency of the moment meant that agreement would come within the next 24 hours.

“It will happen because it has to happen,” she said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America, according to Reuters.

Separately, Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, and the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said on Friday that an agreement depended on House Republicans ending their opposition and “dropping this revolt” against the plan proposed by the Bush administration, The Associated Press reported. He described the rival plan being proposed by Republicans as “an ambush.”

Labels: Congress, Economy, Financial, Government Bailout