Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
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September 28, 2008

Financial Bailout Tentative Deal Reached
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1E698C6:A6F02AD83191E1605B94840492580F455C6F54A6CF9DC2CA&
 
Congressional leaders and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced a
deal early Sunday, and said they hoped to formally announce the bailout
bill later in the day - but before Asian markets open Monday 
U.S. lawmakers and the Bush administration have reached a tentative
agreement on a plan to bailout endangered financial institutions. VOA's
Dan Robinson reports, key House and Senate negotiators, and U.S.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson made the announcement early Sunday
after around-the-clock negotiations. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson,
center, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, and Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid, right, announce a tentative deal on bailout legislation,
Sunday, Capitol Hill in Washington, 28 Sept. 2008Looking tired but
pleased, House and Senate leaders, along with other key lawmakers walked
to a microphone in the Capitol to announce they have an agreement they
believe will rescue the financial markets and protect Americans. House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "We have made great progress. We h ave to get
it committed to paper so we can formally agree."Saying their
congressional staffs would work through the early hours of Sunday to put
final words on!
  paper, lawmakers turned to Secretary Paulson, who said, "We begin with
a very important task, a task to stabilize the markets, to protect all
Americans and do it in a way which protects the taxpayer to the maximum
extent possible."The original Bush administration proposal was for an
estimated $700 billion plan to purchase troubled assets from imperiled
financial institutions in order to prevent a collapse of the U.S. credit
markets. But lawmakers balked after a wave of public complaints and
media reaction about the size of the proposal. They demanded more
oversight and other measures. Last week, despite an initial announcement
of an agreement on basic principles, Republicans in the House of
Representatives insisted on other changes. House Republican whip Roy
Blunt said he believes an agreement can be announced later Sunday, but
his remarks were a bit more tentative than others. "We will be looking
at the final wording of this, talking to my colleagues."Details are
expected later Sunday, and lawmakers would provide no specifics. House
Financial
 Services Committee chairman Barney Frank Barney Frank, who chairs the
House Financial Services Committee, said the tentative deal "includes
genuine compromise, an idea originally proposed by the Bush
Administration and then subject to a process in which other points and
values were added to it."U.S. presidential politics became caught up in
the negotiations last week when Republican candidate John Mc Cain called
for postponement of the first presidential debate with Democrat Barack
Obama. Democrats accused Mc Cain of using the financial crisis to
increase his credibility on economic issues, while Republicans came to
his defense. The debate went ahead after the two men attended an
extraordinary meeting at the White House with President Bush, who was
pushing lawmakers for an agreement.


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