The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
WASHINGTON Ð President George W. Bush scrambled Friday to bring rebellious members of his own Republican party behind a multibillion-dollar government bailout of the U.S. financial system. Leading congressional players in the crisis have arranged a fresh set of talks. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, struggling to keep an emerging bipartisan accord on the plan from imploding, is attending the restart of negotiations at noon Friday. Republicans said they would send a top leader to the closed-door session after its members in the House of Representatives had earlier boycotted negotiations on the proposed deal, calling it unacceptable. Earlier Friday, Bush delivered a terse statement from outside the Oval Office of the White House. He acknowledged legislators have a right to express their doubts and work through disagreements, but said they must "rise to the occasion" and avert an economic meltdown. "There are disagreements over aspects of the rescue plan," Bush said, "but there is no disagreement that something substantial must be done." "We are going to get a package passed." Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 2 House Republican leader, is attending talks with key legislators. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee who had said he was suspending his campaign to forge a bipartisan agreement, has now reversed course and plans to attend the previously scheduled debate tonight with Democratic rival Barack Obama. On Wall Street, the level of institutional nervousness was palpable, especially after Washington Mutual Inc. became the largest U.S. bank to fail. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 100 points, while fears of a deepening economic crisis fed safe-haven buying in Treasury notes. Earlier Friday, House Financial Services chairman Barney Frank declared that an agreement depends on House Republicans "dropping this revolt" against the Bush-requested plan. The Massachusetts Democrat said leading Democrats on Capitol Hill were shocked by the level of divisiveness that surfaced at Thursday's extraordinary White House meeting, leaving six days of intensive efforts to agree on a bailout plan in tatters only hours after key congressional players of both parties had declared they were in accord on the outlines of a US$700-billion bill. Democrats put the responsibility on Bush for getting a rescue package back on track.
