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Congress reaches bipartisan bailout proposal – Sep. 25, 2008

Hmm, this sounds initially encouraging.

However, how unfortunate for poor John McCain’t! Now it would seem that he doesn’t have a legitimate excuse to dodge tomorrow night’s debate. Personally, I think that this makes him look like a fool. He pulls a drama queen stunt to duck out of an engagement that the entire country was planning on seeing and which the host college had spent $4.5 million in preparations.

Congress has a plan

Lawmakers agree on bailout principles to protect taxpayers and ensure oversight.

By Tami Luhby, CNNMoney.com senior writer

Last Updated: September 25, 2008: 1:48 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Lawmakers have reached agreement on a bipartisan counterproposal to the Bush administration’s $700 billion financial bailout plan.

Both parties and both houses agreed Thursday to a set of principles on revisions to the rescue plan, which calls for the Treasury Department to buy up bad mortgage securities from banks in an effort to get them to lend again.

The proposal will help homeowners, curb executive pay packages at participating firms and provide oversight of Treasury’s actions, said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., a key architect of the congressional effort. He did not provide details but said lawmakers will sit down with Treasury officials to discuss it.

“We’ve reached a fundamental agreement on a set of principles, one, for taxpayers, which is tremendously important,” Dodd said.

Americans should “legitimately feel better about the overall approach,” said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who heads the House Financial Services Committee.

Taxpayers will be protected under the Congressional version of the bailout, said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee.

Congress reaches bipartisan bailout proposal – Sep. 25, 2008