Corporate Governance

Senate Republican Conference President Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) has issued a statement praising the "breakthrough" plan reached late Saturday night between House and Senate negotiators to rescue Wall Street.

Alexander's statement:

"Congress has significantly amended the Paulson plan to protect the taxpayer and get our economy moving again. If the House passes the legislation Monday, then the Senate should also act Monday so that Americans will be able to cash their paychecks, get mortgage and car loans, obtain student loans, and keep their jobs. The bill gives the Treasury secretary the authority he needs with strict oversight. And it minimizes the risk of loss to taxpayers and ensures that annual profits from the transactions go to reduce the federal debt."

New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg, a key participant in Saturday's late-night bailout negotiations, said Sunday afternoon that both presidential candidates played a part in the deal that was reached and that final congressional votes are likely Monday.

Gregg, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, also said negotiators Saturday night were told in no uncertain terms from leading economists that a meltdown on Wall Street was imminent if the Bush administration's $700 billion plan was not approved as soon as possible.

"Getting this done soon, promptly, is absolutely critical to the confidence of the markets," Gregg said. "I can't understate that issue."

Both Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and GOP nominee John McCain were in close contact with the lead negotiators throughout the nine-hour session Saturday afternoon and evening, Gregg said, and he confirmed media reports that economists' perspectives were sought as well.

On other key points, Gregg said:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) painted a dire picture of a world in which Congress doesn't pass a bailout plan to buy up distressed mortgage assets.

On his radio show Friday, Bloomberg said it was "inconceivable" that Congress wouldn't approve a rescue package, the Associated Press reports. But if it failed to do, he saw a scenario in which "the world is shutting down."

"You would literally have the banks closing their

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said Friday that the bailout plan put forth by the Bush administration won't work and that Congress is rushing to judgment.

"I think that what you have here is a profound proposal by the Secretary of the Treasury that a lot of people, Democrats and Republicans, have trouble with," he said on CNBC. "One, they're rushing the judgment. It's not linear. They're trying to push this in an emotional state saying the sky is falling if we don't do so and so."

Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, later added: "What they're trying to do is bail out banks, not settle -- put liquidity into the market. And if you start with a structure that's wrong, no matter what you add to it, it won't work."

See the video here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=868529751.

John McCain's call for the resignation of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Chris Cox is "dishonest," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said Monday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will face questions about weakened economy from the Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday.

The committee, which includes members from both the House and the Senate, is just one of three that have asked Bernanke to testify this week about the Wall Street crisis and the economy.

Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are scheduled to appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday's Joint Economic Committee hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) said that the current financial crisis has the potential to be worse than the Great Depression, the Associated Press reports.

Hagel, in comments made Friday after a Senate Banking Committee meeting, said that the government needed to act to stem the mess on Wall Street or risk an international economic downturn. Without effective government action, the crisis could become worse than the Depression of the 1930s due to the interconnectedness of modern economies, Hagel said according to the Omaha World-Herald.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) sounded a grave tone about the state of the economy Friday, hours after government officials announced a rescue plan for banks that could cost up to $500 billion.

"I've been here 28 years, to listen to the language of last evening, we maybe were days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system," Dodd said on ABC News.

Dodd along with other congressional leaders met with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Thursday night. Though Paulson and Bernanke have yet to explain the details of their rescue package to Dodd, the Democrat said that members from both parties will work together during the crisis.

"We understand the gravity of the moment," Dodd said during a Friday news conference. "This is an extremely serious time for our country and for the world. Last evening's meeting was about as sobering a meeting as any of us have ever attended in our careers here. And so we understand, despite the fact that we're some 45 days away from a national election, that we're not gathering as Democrats or Republicans representing blue or red states, but as representatives of the people across this country prepared to do whatever we can to work with the administration to get us through this difficult time to not only deal with the affects of this collapse economically to our country, but the causes as well."

Paulson is scheduled to appear before Dodd's Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. Dodd said that his committee will serve as the lead committee for any legislation related to the rescue plan, though he added that it will work with the parties' leadership in both chambers and with the House Financial Services Committee.

Senate Democratic leaders on Thursday said "preliminary discussions" have begun about pressing federal economic officials for their strategy on managing the Wall Street companies they have taken over, as well as more future accountability after the current fiscal crisis.

At their weekly press conference, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) both expressed worry that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department don't have a long-term strategy for how to manage firms like Bear Stearns, Freddie Mae and Freddie Mac and AIG, all of which have been bailed out this year by the Bush administration.

Without a plan, the two leaders said the U.S.'s federal banking system may be overwhelmed.

"Both the Federal Reserve and the Treasury are realizing we need a more comprehensive solution. I've been talking to them about it, and I may be throwing out some ideas," Schumer said. "The worry is that the Federal Reserve has too much to do right now... It's hard for them to do monetary policy, which is their primary task, and then run all of these companies. There are some preliminary discussions about how to sort of encapsulate and separate the two, both to keep focus on monetary policy by the main Fed leaders but also to prevent conflicts of interest."

Reid also called on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to be more transparent and accountable. The Nevada senator has suggested several times this week that Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson could have done more to keep congressional leaders appraised of the impending bailouts. However, Reid has also complimented both men, and emphasized to reporters that they are relatively new on the job.

Bernanke assumed the chairmanship in February 2006, while Paulson took over the Treasury Department that July.

The Federal Reserve "is a very big and powerful organization, and there's been far too much done, especially in the past few months,"

Reid said. "The American people have no idea what's going on."

If diplomacy fails, Reid didn't shut the door on the possibility of legislation to curb the Federal Reserve's power or bring more transparency.

"That will have to come later," he said. "We'll have to see."

-J. Taylor Rushing

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that President Bush isn't doing enough to provide Wall Street, struggling with investment banks failures, with the confidence it needs.

"What we really need now is confidence, and confidence is hard to come by at a time when there's so much bad news emerging from our financial markets," Pelosi said at a news ocnference Thursday. "What we have now is a man-made disaster, a disaster that sprang -- comes from the Bush failed policies, the failure of the Bush administrations to steward our economy in a responsible way."

She noted the brevity of Bush's statement Thursday, which she said did little to explain the situation to Americans and allay their economic fears.

"We wondered if he was ever going to come out of hiding on this subject," Pelosi said. "He came out in one minute and said very little."

Pelosi also said that GOP presidential nominee John McCain, like Bush, lacks credibility when it comes to talking about the economy. McCain has talked about more regulation of the finance sector, even though he boasted about supporting deregulation in the past, Pelosi noted.

"How else could John McCain, in the midst of the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, tell the American people the fundamentals of our economy are strong?" she said.

Pelosi pushed back against suggestions that Conrgress wouldn't do anything about the crisis until next year. She said that House committees would begin hearings on the bailout decisions made by Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and on the impact of the $85 billion federal rescue loan to insurance giant AIG .

Pelosi also wondered where that money will come from and asked whether other countries, whose companies also do business with the insurance firm, could help pay for the loan.

"One of the reasons why they had to bail out AIG was because of foreign banks, and both Europe and Asia were saying that they had such a stake in AIG in their own countries. Well, where are they?," she said. "Why are they not participating in this bailout?"