Dodd, Gregg urge lawmakers to pass bailout

[September 29, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two leading players in efforts to devise a financial system bailout bill said Monday they hope for quick passage of a newly fashioned version, with checks and balances on the executive branch, which they said should make it palatable enough for fellow lawmakers still hearing vocal criticism from their home districts.

Asked Monday morning if the compromise bill will go through, Sen. Chris Dodd said, "We hope so." But the Connecticut Democrat said it's not a panacea for all the problems that have bedeviled the U.S. financial markets. He also said, though, that failure to act would spread the contagion of frozen credit markets even further. "This is not just about Wall Street," Dodd said. He said that it's "potentially going to hurt other people across the country."

Dodd and Sen. Judd Gregg, who represented fellow Republicans in weekend talks, appeared on morning news shows as President Bush prepared to give a statement at the White House urging Congress to pass the bill. Investors worldwide and in early trading in the United States continued to demonstrate doubts about whether the bill would even go through, much less address the systemic problems that have unnerved financial markets across the globe.

The House was slated to vote later Monday on the deeply unpopular rescue package for the stressed financial industry. Bush on Sunday had conceded this was a difficult vote in an election year but said he was confident that Congress would pass the measure that his top economic officials argued is vital to averting a broader economic meltdown.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., his party's leader in the Senate, said Sunday: "Now we have to get the votes" and said the measure could pass the Senate as early as Wednesday.

"Nobody wants to have to support this bill," said Rep. John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, the House minority leader. But he said he was urging "every member whose conscience will allow them to support this" to do so. Officials in both parties expected the vote to be a nail-biter.

The two major party presidential candidates -- Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama -- expressed tepid support for the bailout.

[Associated Press; By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS]

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