Economy & Budget

Senate Republican leaders delivered a balanced, noontime update on progress towards a Wall Street bailout bill, saying they are optimistic an agreement will be reached later today but also warning of dire consequences with Monday's stock market opening if an agreement falls through.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and ranking Budget Committee member Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) said that a Saturday afternoon meeting is planned for the principal negotiators, House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), along with Bush administration officials from the Treasury Department.

"We expect to have an agreement," Gregg said. "The basic understanding is that when we get in that room as principals, we're going to stay there until we reach an agreement. If we can't reach an agreement, which hopefully won't happen and I don't expect that to happen, we will stay until we've done something to address this issue in a very comprehensive way.... We've agreed to stay until we get this done."

Gregg said if an agreement is not reached by the end of the weekend, "by Monday or Tuesday, Main Street America will be under dire stress."

McConnell added, "The goal would be to announce an agreement tomorrow and have a vote on Monday."

A Monday vote could possibly be the last action by the 110th Congress before the November elections, although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) late Friday said he also wants votes on a train safety bill, a Defense Department policy measure and a U.S.-India nuclear agreement.

-J. Taylor Rushing

The Senate on Saturday got off to a smooth start by approving a procedural motion on a funding measure for the federal government and announcing progress on talks toward a $700 billion financial stabilization plan for Wall Street.

Senators voted 83-12 to invoke cloture on a $630 billion continuing resolution to fund the government, which was necessary before the fiscal year ends on Tuesday. The Senate will vote this afternoon on the continuing resolution.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), seeking a separate vote on a $1.1 billion agricultural and environmental aid bill for Southern states hit hard by recent natural disasters, had threatened to force the funding vote to Sunday. But she relented talks after talks Democratic leaders. A vote on Landrieu's bill is now likely to come during a lame-duck session, her office said.

Reid said House and Senate negotiators worked until 3 a.m. Saturday on the bailout bill talks, and a final vote is hoped for by early Sunday.

"We may not be able to do that, but we're trying very hard," Reid said. "If we are going to be able to do what it appears we can do, it will resolve a lot of questions that people have around the country."

-J. Taylor Rushing

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on the Senate floor late Friday that congressional negotiators are aiming for an early Monday morning final vote on a Wall Street bailout bill, assuming agreement on the $700 billion package could be reached this weekend.

While those talks continue, Reid said the Senate will vote at 10 a.m. Saturday on a motion to proceed to a continuing resolution to fund the government, with a 30-hour post-debate period possibly to follow before a final vote on the stopgap funding measure

Hours after House Republicans announced that they would return to discuss a $700 billion Wall Street bailout, Democrats resumed negotiations without the lower chamber Read more...

Just 30 percent of U.S. adults support the Bush administration's proposed $700 billion bailout plan, according to an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll.

More people -- 45 percent -- said they oppose the plan, and 25 percent said they were undecided.

But a majority of adults, 57 percent, said that a bailout plan is needed to prevent a serious recession. Just 35 percent, however, said that the proposal would solve the financial crisis.

The poll was conducted via telephone calls and Internet surveys on Thursday, the day lawmakers' talks on the bailout collapsed.

A group of Democratic senators sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) today urging him to include financial regulations and taxpayer protections in any bipartisan agreement on a Wall Street bailout package.

The group was comprised of Sens. Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Diannie Feinstein (Calif.), Tom Harkin (Iowa), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Ken Salazar (Colo.), and Jim Webb (Va.).

The senators asked for a new financial regulatory structure, bailout funds to be doled out incrementally, limits on compensation packages for executives of bailed out companies, for assets to be purchased as "contingent shares" with an eye on protecting taxpayers.

Read the letter after the jump. Read more...

There are four stipulations that are non-negotiable for congressional Democrats if a Wall Street bailout deal is to be struck,

Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) on Friday said that big egos on Capitol Hill are hampering the massive financial bailout package.

During an interview on CNBC, Kanjorski indicated House Republicans should have been had a more significant role in the bailout discussions, saying, "I don't know that we included them in enough, and that's always a dangerous thing in politics. Remember, you're dealing with egomaniacs. We're all egomaniacs down here."

Kanjorski, who faces a difficult reelection race, is chairman of the House Financial Services subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises.

Kanjorski added, "Now, what we have to do is open that door for the House Republicans, bring them on in and say, 'Guys, you know, we can't cast your idea aside.' Let's listen to it...I think we have to allow them to talk their idea out. We have to be willing to listen."

Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) doesn

Any Wall Street bailout plan must be approved by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the White House said today.

The "test" for any final plan,

Presidential politics have slowed down high-level negotiations over a Wall Street bailout plan among lawmakers and the Bush administration, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said at a press conference on Capitol Hill this morning.

"It's time for presidential politics to leave the table," Reid said. "The insertion of presidential politics has not been helpful. It's been harmful."

Reid said that John McCain, specifically, had been an obstacle to progress.

"All he has done is stand in front of the cameras," Reid said. "We still don't know where he stands on the issues."

Reid said he had called on McCain to lay out his own stances on the bailout. Blogger Marc Ambinder this morning reported that McCain did not offer a specific endorsement of GOP proposals in yesterday's meeting at the White House between himself, Barack Obama, President Bush, and congressional leaders.

Reid did not say whether Barack Obama's comments on the bailout negotiations, or his presence yesterday at the White House meeting, had been an obstacle to compromise on a final deal.

But neither of the two presidential candidates, Reid said, have the same level of financial expertise as other lawmakers, such as Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who has been a prominent player in Senate negotiations.

"They're not members of the Banking Committee and never have been," Reid said of Obama and McCain.