Bush, Congressional Leaders Reach Agreement on Bank-Rescue Plan

Bush, Congressional Leaders Reach Agreement on Bank-Rescue Plan


Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush and congressional leaders said they had reached agreement on a $700 billion bank-rescue package designed to revive moribund credit markets.

``I am confident Congress will do what is best for our economy by approving this legislation promptly,'' Bush said in a statement today in Washington.

The House may consider the plan as soon as tomorrow, and the Senate will vote at least by Oct. 1, said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. House Republican leaders, who had resisted the Bush administration's initial proposal, urged their colleagues to support the plan today in a private meeting, Representative Mark Kirk of Illinois said in an interview.

The support of House Republicans leaders boosts the chances the rescue package will pass Congress.

Bush's comments came during a weekend of talks aimed at reaching agreement before global financial markets reopen today. It would give Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson an immediate $250 billion to buy bad loans from financial companies, with the rest to be doled out in stages.

Lawmakers steered a path between voter anger at having to foot the bill for the mistakes of Wall Street bankers and the need to shore up a financial system shaken by the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Washington Mutual Inc. Bush, in a speech yesterday, said the package was needed to prevent a ``deep and painful recession.''

The agreement alters the Bush administration's original request for unchecked authority to purchase distressed debt securities from financial companies reeling from the record number of home foreclosures.

BLOOMBERG