WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats worked Sunday to put their own imprint on an unprecedented $700-billion Treasury Department plan to shore up the economy, seeking to ensure that Main Street, not just Wall Street, receives help and setting the stage for a week of tough bargaining with the White House in the heat of a political campaign.
As Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson hopscotched the Sunday talk shows urging lawmakers to move swiftly, Democrats urged inclusion of their priorities, including providing additional aid for homeowners at risk of foreclosure, limiting executive compensation at companies aided by the government bailout and establishing tough oversight of federal assistance to financial institutions.
Paulson portrayed the plan as necessary to stave off the worst economic calamity since the Great Depression, but he is facing a tough job of selling it to members of President Bush's own Republican party who are concerned about the staggering cost it would be to taxpayers and perceptions that it favors Wall Street over Main Street.
"This is the mother of all bailouts," Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Paulson has proposed that he be given broad authority to purchase the troubled mortgage-related assets of financial institutions. He is urging Congress to act this week, prior to its scheduled recess on Friday for the fall campaign.
"It pains me tremendously to, to, to have the American taxpayer be put in this position, but it's better than the alternative," Paulson said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Setting up a possible confrontation with the White House, congressional Democrats plan to push for additional measures, including more aid for distressed homeowners.
"It's kind of hard to tell the average American that we're going to continue to have foreclosures that destabilize neighborhoods and deprive cities of revenues they need, but we're going to buy up the bad paper," Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said on "Face the Nation."
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), who, with Frank, will play a leading role in moving legislation, said on ABC's "This Week" that the foreclosure crisis must be addressed. "The cause of this problem is still the foreclosure crisis," he said. "So it needs to be part of the solution."
