As negotiators worked on the Wall Street rescue plan, they stepped up their efforts to portray it as equally important to Main Street as it is to Wall Street in an effort to win greater public support and ease the political anxiety of reelection-minded lawmakers, who are weighing whether to support it.
"If it were possible to let every irresponsible firm on Wall Street fail without affecting you and your family, I would do it," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
"The failure of the financial system would mean financial hardship for many of you."
House Republicans, who have been critical of the growth in government spending under Bush, have been pushing to reduce the cost of the bailout. Unlike the president, they must stand for reelection this fall, and are willing to break with Bush as they try to reclaim the mantle of fiscal responsibility.
But Bush in his radio address said that the cost would be "far less" than $700 billion. "Many of the assets the government would buy are likely to go up in price over time," he said. "This means that the government will be able to recoup much, if not all, of the original expenditure."
Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, the Senate Republican's lead negotiator, called the plan a "market stabilization plan."
"We can't underestimate the threat we face relative to the fiscal melt down and the impact it will have on Main Street," he said in a statement. "This is about people's jobs, it's about people's savings, it's about people's ability to participate in commerce, to send their kids to school, and to be able to borrow money to run their small businesses. So action is critical, we have to take it promptly, and the Congress is responding."
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richard.simon@latimes.com
