WASHINGTON: Despite a cacophony of protests from American taxpayers, US lawmakers said yesterday they had reached an agreement on the fundamentals of a proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial system.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain meanwhile suspended his campaign and said he was returning to Washington. He also said he wanted to delay today’s presidential debate with his Democratic rival Barack Obama.
After three hours of crunch talks among Democratic and Republican leaders, the Senate’s banking committee chairman said both sides would now submit their outline agreement to the Treasury and party colleagues.
“We’ve reached a fundamental agreement on a set of principles,” Christopher Dodd told reporters in Congress, joined by other leaders after the discussions over the bailout package demanded by the US government.
On Wall Street, shares, which had opened higher, rose sharply on expectations of a rescue plan.
In a brief speech on the Senate floor earlier, the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said he expected the Senate to be in session tomorrow to cast its first procedural votes on the proposal, in which the government plans to buy distressed debt from financial firms and stave off what President George W. Bush warned could be a widespread economic collapse.
In a primetime televised speech on Wednesday night, Bush appealed to the nation — and to reluctant lawmakers — to support the plan. He also asked the presidential candidates to meet with him and congressional leaders in a show of cooperation.
After Wednesday night’s drafting efforts on both sides of Capitol Hill, Democratic officials said they had nearly completed a unified draft of a bill.
They said they were now looking to secure Republican agreement before brokering a final deal with the Bush administration, in particular a plan to authorize the full $700 billion but to disburse a smaller sum at first, perhaps $150 billion, to get the rescue effort under way. More money would follow after assessment of the program.
Turmoil in the financial industry and growing pessimism about the economy have altered the shape of the presidential race, giving Obama the first clear lead of the general-election campaign over McCain, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News national poll.
More voters say they trust Obama to deal with the economy, and he currently has a big edge as the candidate who is more in tune with the economic problems Americans now face.
He also has a double-digit advantage on handling the current problems on Wall Street, and as a result, there has been a rise in his overall support.
The poll found that, among likely voters, Obama now leads McCain by 52 percent to 43 percent.
McCain’s announcement suspending his campaign to show his concern for the economy and country was to counter that poll lead.
Obama challenged McCain to go through with the debate. “The American people deserve to hear directly from myself and Sen. McCain about how we intend to lead our country,” Obama said in a speech to the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.
McCain, who spoke earlier to the same group, said the economic crisis should take precedence over the campaign. “With so much on the line, for America and the world, the debate that matters most right now is taking place in the United States Capitol — and I intend to join it.”
The Washington Post said McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign and seek to postpone Friday’s debate “may be among the biggest of his political life. The Republican presidential nominee is hoping that his abrupt decision ... will be seen as the kind of country-first, bipartisan leadership he believes Americans want. What he risks, if things don’t go as he hopes, is a judgment by voters that his move was a reckless act by an impetuous and struggling politician that hardened partisan lines in Washington at just the wrong moment and complicated efforts to deal with the biggest financial crisis in more than half a century.”
The Boston Globe’s editorial calls it a “stunt.” “Altering the debate schedule would hardly serve voters. If anything, debates are most valuable at times of national crisis, because voters need to hear candidates highlight their policy differences ... And McCain’s initial response to the mess — his odd claim that the fundamentals of the economy are strong — made him look out of touch. But if he now thinks the problem can be tidied up during a short break from the campaign trail, he needs some new economic advisers.
“McCain has already brought discredit upon his campaign by shielding running mate Sarah Palin from hostile questions. This impulsive new stunt makes him appear unsteady and underprepared, too. America can work through a financial crisis and handle a campaign at the same time. In politics as on Broadway, the show must go on.”
