September 25th, 2008 // comments (0)

Lawmakers: Bailout Deal Reached

WASHINGTON (AP) – Warned that time was running short to bolster the distressed economy, congressional Republicans and Democrats reported agreement in principle Thursday on a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, and said they would present it to the Bush administration in hopes of a vote within days.

Emerging from a two-hour negotiating session, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said, “We are very confident that we can act expeditiously.”

“I now expect that we will indeed have a plan that can pass the House, pass the Senate (and) be signed by the president,” said Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah.

The bipartisan consensus on the general direction of the legislation was reported just hours before President Bush was to host presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain and congressional leaders at the White House for discussions on how to clear obstacles to the unpopular rescue plan.

Now McCain will resume his campaign in the next 48 hours (when the deal is official) and you can bet your ass he’ll use this as a line of attack against Obama in the first debate tomorrow night.

Deal Or No Deal is the headline on Drudge and it looks like I may have snacked on the Democrats bait a little too soon. This whole ‘it’s a done deal’ thing was trumpted by the Democrats before John McCain arrived at the Senate to steal his fire. There is no deal. It’s still rather contentious behind close doors and the Democrats told an outright lie during this presser when they said this deal was all but completed. McCain needs to round up the troops, get this done by tomorrow afternoon and buzz off to Mississippi for the debates with a new round of political ammunition. Otherwise, Barack Obama has a ninety minute infomercial tomorrow.

Related:

• January 26, 2009 -- Buried Deep Inside H.R. 1…
• February 23, 2010 -- PHOTOS: TOYOTA HEARINGS
• February 5, 2010 -- UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DROPS
• January 29, 2010 -- GDP GROWS AT 5.7%
• January 21, 2010 -- JOBLESS CLAIMS RISE
• December 22, 2009 -- CHRISTMAS EVE VOTE
• December 21, 2009 -- NO MORE STIMULUS
• December 4, 2009 -- UNEMPLOYMENT TO 10%
• December 2, 2009 -- HOLD ON BERNANKE
• November 30, 2009 -- EXTREME HOME FORECLOSURE